Arya News - Gold bulls, who had driven the precious metal’s price up for four straight months, will know in a week if December can be added to the tally as the Federal Reserve embarks on one of its most difficult rate decisions of the year, market strategist Phillip Streible told Sputnik.
"Gold’s run for 2025 has been incredible with just a few stops, but like all markets that outperform, it’s bound to be hit by volatility if expectations are not met," Streible told Sputnik. "And the overwhelming expectation for December is that there will be another Fed rate cut. If that doesn’t happen, be prepared for downside that could even exclude December as a winning month." The Fed had carried out two quarter percentage point cuts back-to-back in September and October. The likelihood that it will do so again at its policymaking committee meeting next week, on December 10, is 89%, according to a rate prediction tool monitored by US exchange group CME. Despite such high odds, markets are uncertain if growing inflationary pressures will convince the central bank to leave rates in their current range of 3.75%-4%. Gold’s most pronounced volatility was in October, shortly after record highs of $4,398 for futures of the precious metal and $4,381.60 for its spot contract. Despite those price swings, gold managed to finish October up almost 4% — extending its September run-up of almost 11% and its August advance of 6%. In November, it rose another 6%, as bets begin to grow that the Fed will cut rates for a third time this year, in December. Year-to-date, both the futures and spot price gold are up about 61% each.