Gold Price Forecast: Weighing The Next Week’s Economic Events

Thursday, October 27, 2016

gold bars

Anyone investing in gold knows that the price of gold denominated in US dollars is subject to the winds of economic news. What many gold investors don’t know is what specific economic news to watch for. In forecasting gold’s price for the coming week, which includes a shift into November, let’s highlight the upcoming events and announcements that could influence how investors think about gold.

Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve keeps a “What’s Next” schedule on their website that’s always essential reading for investors. Within the next week, we’ll see two events.

The first is Foreign Exchange Rates, on Tuesday the 1st. This is a monthly release detailing the strength of the US dollar against international currencies, and nothing out of the ordinary. Although the information is important here, it likely won’t be too relevant to gold price forecasters.

The second is far more important: the FOMC meeting beginning next Wednesday on November 2nd and continuing into November 3rd. This meeting is one of only eight yearly meetings in which bigwigs at the Federal Reserve, the Board of Governors, (including chair of the board of governors, Janet Yellin), eventually announce decisions on any differences in the interest rates. There may be no more important regular meeting that the markets watch than these FOMC meetings.

Although investors expect a December rate hike at this point, which could be bad for gold’s position against the U.S. dollar, it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on all FOMC meetings.

GDP Announcement

Since economic news plays such a big role in the price of gold—bad economic news often sends investors hedging their bets with the yellow metal—gold investors will want to be aware of what happens Friday, October 28threlease of U.S. GDP numbers. Knowing the total value of a nation’s economic production gives a bird’s-eye view of where things are heading—and strong GDP numbers could have a ripple effect on the Federal Reserve’s decisions on interest rates as well.

Jobless Claims

Jobless claims is a weekly number, but it’s important to remember that anything that changes in this regard can make major headlines. Jobless claims will be released on Thursday, October 27th, with current estimates at 255,000. Keep in mind that anything very different from these numbers can move the news needle in one direction, so try to keep an eye on estimates of these releases before they come out to understand why a particular story makes the news.

Useful Calendars to Visit

If you want to keep track of everything you read in this post for the future, visit the following online calendars:

These calendars aren’t only useful for anyone who wants to follow the financial news, but have a major impact on the strength of the US economy, a ripple effect on US Federal Reserve policy, and therefore a major effect on the price of gold. While we can’t specifically offer a gold price forecast with any degree of certainty, we can point to the specific times in the coming week in which the price of gold may hang in the balance.

Darren Capriotti

Darren Capriotti has been a market analyst for the past decade and is an expert in precious metals. He prides himself on his ability to analyze the market and offer true value to investors with questions about gold, silver, and other precious metals. Highly educated, incredibly passionate, and more accurate than most, Darren offers a true, unbiased look into what investors can expect in the precious metals market. You can reach Darren at [email protected].