Though gold and silver finished the week succumbing to some profit-taking, the fact the matter is that this is one of the biggest weekly gains we have seen metals make in quite some time. It may seem like something major happened to propel metals forward, but the reality is that metals’ success this week is thanks to many of the same factors that have been taking up headlines recently. Things like the oil supply-glut, instability across equity markets, and a downward turning US Dollar were all talking points this week.

This 5-day trading session likely seemed a bit quieter than normal, and the reason for that is due to the fact that Chinese markets were closed due to the extended celebration of the Lunar New Year. China heavily influences the global market and is the source of many major talking points, so their absence this week was undoubtedly felt.

Gold, Silver Moving Dramatically Upward

On Friday we are seeing some mild profit-taking, but on Thursday both gold and silver were seen making massive gains at just about every turn. In fact, gold gained more than 3% on Thursday alone as it climbed by more than $50/ounce.

An address by Fed Chair Janet Yellen to Congress earlier in the week is when we really started seeing precious metals move forward. In her address Yellen made it clear that there is no guarantee that the Fed will continue raising interest rates throughout the duration of this year. Most people had already come to terms with the fact that no policy moves would be made at the upcoming March meeting, but now it seems as though interest rates may be kept at current levels even longer than that. This moved the Dollar downward and stoked the safe-haven demand fire, driving gold and silver spot values higher.

As we look ahead to next week and what it may mean for gold and silver, it will be truly interesting to see if spot values have enough momentum to climb even higher than they already are. We are seeing profit-taking to close out the week and there is a small contingent who thinks that profit-taking will intensify on Monday when Chinese investors are back in the game full swing. Still, global economic conditions are so tumultuous at present that it seems like safe-haven demand will remain strong.

Weekly Jobless Claims Fall

For the first time in a few weeks the US Labor Department delivered good news with regard to weekly jobless claims. It was announced on Thursday that last week’s first-time claims for unemployment fell by more than 15,000 from the week before. Not only was this great news, it was made even better by the fact that the seasonally-adjusted average of claims fell by more than 3,000. This gauge is seen as a much more accurate picture of the current US employment sector, so this news was welcomed with open arms.
Fortunately, even the upbeat employment report was not enough to throw metals off track. On Thursday, the day that the employment data was dealt, gold gained more than $50 while silver picked up more than half a Dollar.

With Chinese markets back in focus next week I imagine things will be a bit more eventful than they were this week, but it is difficult for most people to envision gold and silver doing anything other than continue to capitalize off their current momentum. Next week’s weekly jobless claims report will also be called into question because it will be interesting to see how the US employment sector does with the global economy continuing to deteriorate as it has recently.

Precious metals posted solid gains all throughout the week, and ended the 5-day trading session in much the same fashion. As far as geopolitical occurrences are concerned, the radar was quiet. When it came to economic data, however, there was a boatload for investors to talk about, especially from the United States. Employment data abounded throughout the past 5 days, and much of it was a mixed bag.

US Offers Up Plenty of Employment Data

The employment data stream started on Wednesday with the ADP private-sector job growth report. ADP, a globally recognized payroll processor, announced that more than 200,000 new jobs were created in January. In addition to this, December’s private-sector job growth report was upwardly revised to over 265,000. Now this data is all fine and good, but the fact of the matter is that very few investors put too much weight into the ADP report. With that being said, there is a sense of optimism surrounding the pending employment report due out on Friday from the Labor Department.

On Thursday, investors were dealt what ended up being more of a downbeat weekly jobless claims report from the Labor Department. According to the data, last week saw 8,000 more first-time claims for unemployment filed than the week before. Though this is not necessarily the worst news in the world, the 4-week moving average of jobless claims was reported as having moved upward by about 2,000. This is the bigger piece of news because the 4-week average is often viewed as the most current and up to date view of the employment situation in the United States at a given moment in time.

Finally, on Friday, it was January’s employment report that was due out. This report did not stray too far from expectations, and ended up not really hurting gold and silver’s progress.

Other Downbeat US Economic Data Dealt

The Institute for Supply Management released their reading on non-manufacturing activity in the United States during January. For an economy that is largely service-based, Wednesday’s report was not very upbeat at all. Officially, January’s reading came in at 53.8%, down from more than 56% during December.

ISM claimed that turbulent global economic conditions at present played heavily into the reports’ downturn. With these same factors continuing into February, it is difficult to envision these figures ticking too far upward next time around.

Finally, there was some commentary this week from members of the Federal Reserve, specifically from New York Federal Reserve president William Dudley. Dudley commented that the Fed may have to reconsider their interest rate hiking plan as the Dollar improves despite a weak global economy. As the Dollar continues to gain strength, and other economies remain weak, investment dollars are going to begin shading away from the US in search of cheaper deals elsewhere. This will be an interesting situation to see play out, and is likely one that will work in the favor of gold and silver.

As we look ahead to next week, the focus will be on whether the momentum currently being exhibited by gold and silver will be able to be sustained. So long as economic turmoil across the world persists, gold and silver seem as though they stand to benefit. Investors the world over are becoming increasingly unsure about what to do with their money, and this is breeding an increasing number of investors who are seeking safe-haven with precious metals. How far gold and silver can move upward, however, remains to be seen.

Precious metals ended the week in lackluster fashion after bouncing between small gains and losses over the last 5 days. Luckily for gold, it was able to finish the week above the $1,100/ounce threshold. This offers a major psychological boost; something metals have seen very little of in recent months. Silver also finished the week slightly up and will be looking to build upon these small gains next week.

Draghi Comments on Possibility of More Stimulus

Thursday was eventful in that it saw the US Dollar surge to a 2-week high against the euro. The reason for this drastic and sudden climb on the part of the greenback were comments made by members of the European Central Bank earlier in the day. According to Draghi and his colleagues, further stimulus measures do await the European economy, however the timing of these measures remains an uncertainty.

Playing into this uncertainty is, of course, the performance of the Chinese economy. Currently sitting on a few consecutive months of poor economic data, the Chinese economy is leading the global economic slowdown. As difficult as it may be to believe, China’s continued poor performance will have a ripple effect of sorts that will aid causing other global economies to continue slowing.

Oil is another factor affecting what the ECB and many other central banks think about things like stimulating their respective economies This week saw crude oil slump to new lows as it fell well below $27/barrel for a short period of time. With Iranian oil seemingly weeks away from being made available on Western markets, the near-term future does not look very bright.

IMF Downgrades Growth Expectations

Earlier this week, the International Monetary Fund announced that they are going to be downgrading their growth expectations for the global economy this year. Officially, the iMF is expecting the global economy to grow by 3.4% by year’s end. On one hand, the fact that 2016’s growth expectations are better than 2015’s shows that the global economy is definitely doing better, but on the other hand, the IMF’s most recent forecast represents a .2% downgrade from forecasts made in the Fall.

Once again, China is a major culprit in this downgraded growth expectation. The IMF did single out China, but made it clear that many other global economies are not performing well either. At this point, it is becoming increasingly difficult to scoff at the idea of a global economic slowdown, because it seems as thought that is exactly what is happening right now.

For gold and silver, continued weak economic data from the United States and elsewhere might be a good thing. As anxiety grows, investors will more readily seek out safe-haven assets, namely gold and silver. Thursday was a day of gains for metals, and a major contributing factor to those gains was a weak jobless claims report. Officially, jobless claims in the US increased by 10,000 last week, bringing the seasonally adjusted average up above 290,000.

With a major winter storm bearing down on the East coast, there is a chance that the early parts of next week will be quite slow. Something that will be interesting to watch, however, will be how crude oil fares throughout the week. Most are anticipating that the price will continue to fall, especially as the threat of an even bigger supply-glut looms. For gold and silver, crude oil’s sluggishness is not helping accelerate gains. In fact, on days where gold and silver do pick up some value, oil’s pull prevents larger gains from being made. This will be an interesting relationship to pay attention to going forward.

After making gains during the very early stages of the week, precious metals spent the latter stages of the week losing value at just about every turn. Now, gold is back below $1,100/ounce while silver backed down below $14/ounce. This is something that has been a recurring theme because market conditions are such that investors are not very interested in the safe-haven qualities offered by gold and silver.

This week was not all that exciting from an economic nor geopolitical standpoint, but there was plenty for investors to talk about. As we head further into the month of January, investors are hoping to receive more information regarding retail sales and other holiday-related data.

Unemployment Claims Rise Unexpectedly

One of the biggest pieces of data made public this week came Thursday in the form of the most recent weekly unemployment report. According to the Department of Labor, first-time claims for unemployment benefits ticked up by more than 5,000 to bring the seasonally adjusted average up above 280,000. This was not the best bit of news, but it also was not viewed as being overly disappointing either.

Though the Labor Department did not cite specific reason for the increase, I am under the impression that laid off seasonal workers are to blame for claims moving upward. You see, during the holidays, many retailers hire employees solely to help them through the holiday rush. Being that the holiday rush is over and retailers did not fare too well, it makes sense that claims might tick upward.

Beige Book Indicates Continue Economic Expansion

The Federal Reserve’s Beige Book was released on Thursday and was interpreted as being overly positive. Of the 12 Federal Reserve districts reporting, more than three-quarters of them indicated that growth was moderate over the course of the past month and a half.

Though the Beige Book is not the most highly anticipated piece of economic data, it is still nice to see that the US economy is still functioning at a relatively high level. Going forward, this bit of data will only serve to lend credence to the belief that interest rates in the United States will continue to be raised gradually throughout this year.

Geopolitical Tensions Make Headlines

Last week was big for investors focusing on geopolitics, but things calmed down a bit this week. The biggest story came earlier in the week when it was reported that Iran had taken US Navy men into custody. The story says that two Navy boats drifted off course and ended up in waters controlled by Iran. Iranian Naval forces intercepted the soldiers and took them to shore simply to figure out what was going on. Quickly, diplomacy prevailed as US and Iranian foreign ministers met and talked to hash the situation out.

At the end of the day, this was not too big of a deal as the soldiers were allowed to depart the next morning and return to normal duties. The reason this story made its way to headlines is due to the fact that Western-imposed sanctions may soon be lifted in exchange for Iran’s continued cooperation with regard to their nuclear pursuits.

The biggest story connected to this is that if sanctions are lifted off Iran, it may release Iranian crude oil to Western markets. For years now, Iranian oil has not been allowed to be sold in many Western nations, and it may drive the price of crude oil downward even further.

Gold and silver spent most of the first full week of January trading making gains thanks to some fresh geopolitical news that is causing concern amongst investors around the world. From an economic data standpoint, this week was fairly slow, but there were some key employment reports due out that caused investors both in the US and abroad to question what lies ahead during the month of January. In fact, next week is more than likely going to bring about a good bit of economic data from the end of the year as well as from December alone. Year-end data is especially important because it gives investors a very clear view of how a given economy performed during the year.

Geopolitical Actions Drive Marketplace

To start out the week, it was geopolitical events that were driving the direction of the marketplace. First up was a story centering on Saudi Arabia pulling all of its diplomats from Iran after recent developments. In addition to this, Saudi Arabia also announced that they would be officially cutting ties with Iran after angry Iranian citizens stormed the Saudi embassy and lit it on fire. The reasoning behind these angry demonstrations are in response to Saudi Arabia putting to death a leading Shiite cleric for speaking out against the Saudi ruling family.

As we move forward, it will be interesting to see what happens between Saudi Arabia and Iran as there are very strong beliefs that this could turn into something more than a war of words. Of course, gold and silver made some gains, but this happens almost anytime there is conflict in the Middle East.

Then, later on in the week, it was announced that North Korea apparently test-dropped a hydrogen bomb. Though Western intelligence sources have disputed the legitimacy of North Korea’s claims, the world took this news as though the test-drop was a real thing. Gold and silver also improved in response to North Korea’s apparent tests due to investors generally being worried that the communist nation is up to no good. It is early in the year, but we will be keeping a close eye on both of these stories as the year progresses.

Jobs Data Improves to End the Year

Though there was not an overload of economic data released this past week, some jobs data trickled to the surface and caused investors to pay attention. First was the ADP private-sector job growth report that was released Wednesday afternoon. This piece of data showed that the US private-sector created a very healthy number of jobs in December. Though this number was potentially skewed due to a year-end accounting quirk, it was healthy job growth nonetheless

On Friday, the Department of Labor released their non-farm payrolls data from the last month of the year. The data came back far better than expectations and showed that nearly 300,000 non-farm jobs were created during the final month of the year. Considering expectations were for roughly 200,000 jobs to have been added to the US economy, it is clear to see why market watchers were so ecstatic to receive today’s figures.. Now, we can reflect on 2015 as being the second-best year for job growth in the past decade.

Looking forward to next week, there are a good bit of economic data points that investors are going to have to contend with. Year-end economic data is especially important, and will be hawked over by investors both at home and abroad. In addition, regular December monthly economic data will be released at every turn throughout the whole of next week. For now, however, gold and silver spot values are reflecting on a positive week, the likes of which we have not seen for quite some time.

Gold and silver did not do much moving over the course of the past 4 days, though once again it seems as though the holiday season is to thank for that. Just like last week, this week played host to a surprisingly large quantity of economic data from the United States. Though the next few weeks are shaping up to be much more fruitful as far as economic data is concerned, it was nice to receive a few talking points during what has admittedly been a very slow week of trading. Spot values bounced around between small losses and small gains, but in the end it seems as though the downward trend prevailed. Looking ahead to the New Year, the outlook for gold and silver remains somewhat poor, but a continued run of poor economic data from the United States can change that quite quickly.

Pending Home Sales Fall In November

The housing data has been streaming in the past few weeks, and this week brought about perhaps the most important bit of real estate news yet. According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales in November fell by .9% from the month before. This is a notable decline and one that does well to undermine the momentum recently picked up by the US housing market. This data is also coming on the back of reports from last week indicating that existing and new home sales are not nearly as strong as they were a few months ago. With the Fed just having raised interest rates, this is a very inopportune time for such a strong batch of negative data to be flowing in.

It must be stated that the pending home sales report is so crucial because it is viewed as the most accurate picture of the real estate market for a given point in time. Because a lot of time occurs between when a house is entered into contract and when it is actually purchased, other real estate reports tend to only give you a partial picture of what is really going on. Economists are saying that the recently poor data is due to the fact that so few houses are on the market at present, and that lack of stock, so to speak, is driving prices upward almost across the board.

Ruble Hits Year Low, Crude Oil Continues to Falter

The Russian Ruble reportedly edged over a 1-year low against the USD on Wednesday thanks mostly to falling crude oil prices. You see, Russia is a country heavily dependent on their crude oil exports, and with the price of this commodity falling at almost every turn, it is no wonder that Russia is suffering the economic backlash.

This situation makes even more sense when you consider the fact that there are many economic sanctions currently placed on Russia due to their supposed involvement in the Ukrainian civil war conflict (which is still going on). With no end to the sanctions in sight, 2016 is looking like it will be just as hard on the Russian economy as 2015 was.

Though most markets across the globe will be closed on Friday in observance of the New Year holiday, the next few weeks are likely to be quite exciting due to the overload of economic data that is expected to be dealt. Being that this data is of the year-end variety, it has a bit more of an impact than our month-to-month reports. What all this means for gold and silver is tough to say. While conventional wisdom leads one to believe that spot values are going to continue to fall, a continuation of poor economic data from the US may force values back upward.

Gold and silver are both looking like they will finish the week having made gains, but those gains are going to be small and unlikely to be sustained. This was a slow week of holiday trading, but the marketplace was dealt a good bit of US economic data. Unfortunately, because this week was so slow, it is difficult to know how investors feel about the data that was dealt. All in all, however, there is no denying that the data was less than impressive.

This week was slow, but it is looking like next week will be as well seeing as the New Year’s holiday occurs towards the end of the week. In the current market atmosphere, a slow week of trading is, nine times out of ten, not something that lends itself to gold and silver making gains. This week was an exception, of course, so it will be interesting to see how things go during next week’s trading session.

US Dollar Has December to Forget

If you thought that this past month was poor for the US Dollar, you are not too far off. In fact, you are spot on in that thinking due to the fact that December saw the USD lose value for the first time since last April. Despite the month not being quite finished, the fact is that we are not likely to see the Dollar make any great recovery over the course of the next week or so.

While this month was poor for the greenback, the longer-term outlook for the Dollar is anything but that. With the prospect of further interest rate hikes still on the minds of investors everywhere, it is looking like the Dollar will do quite well during 2016. As it stands, there are many people who believe that the Federal Reserve is going to increase interest rates up to four more times during the year. Of course, these increases depend wholly on how well the US economy is performing. Right now, the US economy seems to be in the middle of a slow patch, evidenced by this past week’s worth of economic data.

Home Sales Data Delivered

Another key aspect of this slow week of trading was the surprising quantity of ecomomic reports that were dealt. First in line was the report on existing home sales during the month of November. According to the Commerce Department, existing home sales in November came back 10% weaker than they did during October. This data flew in the face of expectations, and was quite disappointing. While this is so, the National Association of Realtors was quick to point out that a new rule pertaining to the acquisition of mortgages was likely to blame for the slow month. They expect that, as people become accustomed to this new rule, sales figures will normalize.

In a report released just a day later, the Commerce Department showed that new home sales were on the rise during November, though only by margins smaller than what were expected. Still, it is nice to see that the housing market did not completely backtrack during November, but rather partook in a bit of a temporary pullback.

In other news, it was reported that November saw a surprisingly small number of durable goods orders. Though many sectors of this report showed growth, the number of orders submitted for non-military aircraft dropped off significantly and that is a major part of the reason the whole tone of the report was negative. As we move into the New Year, US economic data will be closely eyed in order to gauge whether recently poor data is an undertone for the future, or something that can be explained through slow, year-end trading.

Precious metals may have made gains on the final day of the week, but the week on the whole has not been favorable to gold nor silver. This was a momentous week not only because it will be one of the last uninterrupted trading weeks of the year, but because of a major decision made by the Federal Reserve.

With the Christmas holiday fast-approaching, and New Years quickly following it, we will be into the year 2016 in no time at all. What does this mean for gold and silver? That much is tough to say, but recent weeks have seen market conditions stack up against precious metals at seemingly every turn. As we go forward, it is difficult to envision gold and silver being able to make significant, lasting gains anytime in the near future.

Fed Raises Rates

Prior to this week of trading kicking off, investors were focused on the Federal Reserve and their meeting, which was held over the course of Tuesday to Wednesday. In the wake of the meeting on Wednesday it was announced that interest rates in the US would be risen by .25% for the first time in well over 7 years. In addition to this hike, which was mostly expected, the Fed went on to say that further increases are likely to take place so long as market conditions warrant.

In the immediate wake of the Fed’s decision, the spot values of both gold and silver managed to make somewhat decent gains. Though this was surprising, the very next day saw spot values fall dramatically. Unfortunately, this seems like what will continue to be the case as we move forward through the last two weeks of this year and into next year. For equities from around the world, the decision made by the Fed helped boost markets.

For gold and silver, the future is certainly uncertain. While it now looks like spot values are going to have a tough time moving forward, things may get even tougher as things change. For one, the fact that crude oil is continuing to decline is something that is continuing to work against precious metals. As a leading commodity, the price action of crude oil often dictates that of most other commodities. And with Iranian crude oil looking like it will soon be allowed to be sold in Western markets thanks to the lifting of sanctions, the already notable supply glut will only grow larger.

In addition, falling spot values threaten to undermine the profitability of the mines that produced both gold and silver. Many experts agree that if gold’s spot value falls below $1,000/ounce, many mines will no longer be able to extract the metal from the earth. Though they may be able to make money on the gold itself, other costs such as those for equipment and labor would prove to be a futile effort. We are still a fair way away from that price point, but it is assuredly something investors should not count out.

Looking ahead to the next two weeks, you can expect that things will remain generally slow across the global marketplace. With the Christmas holiday only a week away, many investors will be spending more time with their family and friends than anything else. The slow nature of the marketplace is something that will not bode well for precious metals making any lasting gains.

Precious metals concluded a fairly lackluster week by stacking on moderate losses on top of already moderate losses. To be fair, the quiet nature of this 5-day trading session was always going to see precious metals concede value simply because market conditions are wholly stacked against both gold and silver. Barring any drastic change in the tone of US and global economic data, the spot values of gold and silver are likely to continue falling or, if nothing else, struggling to make gains.

Looking ahead to next week, the investing world is already concerning itself with the Federal Open Market Committee’s monthly policy meeting. This is the case because most global investors are under the impression that next week’s meeting will bring about the first US interest rate hike in more than 8 years. Though we have thought this same exact thing many times in the past, it feels as though this time might actually see rates be pushed upward. For most, it is not a matter of if rates will be raised, but rather a matter of when they will be raised.

Chinese Data Continues to Come Back Poorly

On the whole, this past 5-day trading session did not offer up much in the way of markets-moving economic data. With that being said, China did play host to a few economic reports that caught the attention of investors, mostly because of how poor it was. On Wednesday, the Chinese government announced that November exports fell on an annualized basis by almost 4%. The fact that exports were down was bad enough, but the bad news was two-fold as November marked the 5th consecutive month where exports moved backwards.

The same problem that has existed for a while now continues to persist, and that is the problem of a Chinese economic slowdown negatively impacting the growth prospects for the world’s other major economies. This continues to be an underlying concern for investors, and has threatened the likelihood that the Fed will hike rates.

Weekly Jobless Claims Data Eyed

The only big piece of US economic data worth mentioning was released on Thursday in the form of t he weekly jobless claims report for the United States. Despite it being widely believed that last week’s claims for unemployment benefits fell from the week before it, the raw data showed that the opposite had happened. According to the US Labor Department, 13,000 more claims for unemployment were filed last week. This flew in the face of expectations that the number of people seeking unemployment would fall by more than 5,000.

This data, though poor, did not do much in the way of swaying the opinion of the marketplace as it relates to the possible hiking of interest rates that we are expecting will be announced next week.
The US Dollar Index even managed to gain on Thursday, which is a clear sign that investors mostly overlooked the weekly jobless claims data.

Another key happening of the week was crude oil’s price action. For much of the week, the leading commodity backed down towards and even reached 7-year lows, with the price of a barrel of oil falling below the $37 threshold. So long as crude oil is kept subdued and moving downward, it is going to be extremely tough for gold and silver to make gains. This is so because precious metals often have their price action dictate by that of crude oil. As we move forward through December and into 2016, popular opinion is that the price of oil is not going to make a sustained rebound anytime soon. This is especially true is Iranian oil embargos by Western nations are lifted, something that still remains a very real possibility.

Both gold and silver finished up the first week of December trading not very far from where they began it. When it comes down to it, though we have had an eventful week the market is still stacked up against precious metals.

As for this week’s highlights, they include a good deal of economic data from both the United States and Europe, as well as the all-important monthly meeting of the European Central Bank. That was arguably the biggest happening of the week as it was widely expected that Europe’s central bank would announce the expansion of easy money policies. Apart from that, the almost undivided attention of the global marketplace is looking ahead to the 15th and 16th of December when the FOMC is expected to hold their December meeting. It is at this meeting that investors are expecting to hear of raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. Whether interest rates are actually boosted or not, however, remains to be seen.

ECB Extends QE, Doesn’t Expand

Thursday of this week saw the European Central Bank convene for their monthly policy meeting. Of course, as is typically the case, investors from the world over tuned in to hopefully hear and react to any bit of monetary policy change or outlook change.

While many were expecting the ECB to boost its easy money policies, that much did not occur. Instead, ECB president Mario Draghi announced that easy money policies would simply be extended, not expanded. Up to this point, Europe’s devaluing of the Euro currency has helped the region stabilize from an economic standpoint, but it has not yet really translated into any substantial growth. Draghi maintained that the current course of monetary policy is such that it should foster growth in the upcoming months and should see inflation hit the preset target of 2%.

By day’s end on Thursday, investors reacted to the ECB’s decision by more or less ignoring altogether. There really wasn’t any noticeable reaction and markets were not turned on their head by what is seen as a middle-of-the-road decision by Draghi and Co.

Disappointing Manufacturing Data From US

There was a good bit of US economic data dealt this week, but few pieces of data were more surprising than the ISM Manufacturing Index for the month of November. Compared to an October reading of just under 60%, November’s figures came back having lost more than 3 percentage points from the month before.

For those who are not very familiar with the ISM Manufacturing Index, any reading above 50% suggests growth, while any reading below that figure suggests that that sector of the economy is experiencing contraction. Though it is still encouraging to see this figure well-above the 50% mark, the fact that it fell more than 3% in just one month is just a bit unnerving.

Having said that, Janet Yellen, in a speech delivered on Thursday, made it very clear that the Fed plans on raising interest rates before the end of the year so long as economic data does not take a drastic turn downward. Of course, as was mentioned above, the attention of the global marketplace now turns to the December meeting of the FOMC, which is expected to take place within two weeks from now. As it stands, you would be hard-pressed to find even one investor who has doubts with regard to the occurrence of a rate hike at the conclusion of that meeting. We have been expecting interest rate hikes for quite some time now, but this time around it seems as though rates may actually be given a boost. I suppose only time will tell.