US interest rates paused, Bank regulation to tighten further and Farmers continue to Fight

The US FED has decided to pause interest rates through to March (At least). With the US economy ticking along nicely, and employment still measuring confidence; FED Chair Powell is rightly driving down any last remains of inflation before moving into any monetary policy easing. While rates remain high the US dollar also continues its reign of supremacy, forcing secondary currencies around the world to remain vigilant with their own monetary policy.

In another late twist to the banking saga of 2023, the BTFP (Bank Term Funding Program) is due to expire in March this year. What was originally designed to help stabilise the banking sector through a very wobbly period last year has ultimately been found to simply be providing banks with cheap access to debt. As an immediate response to this discovery, the BTFP has now increased its interest rate for all new borrowings and will be stopped as a service on March 11, 2024. Concerningly, while mortgage holders battle with increased interest rates, to now discover that banks were securing cheaper than expected debt through the BTFP paints a very poor picture, driving even more division between debt holders and debt issuers. 

And French, German, Italian and Spanish farmers are now protesting very aggressively through their capital cities. In France, hundreds of tractors are blocking access to Paris in protest against increased costs, red tape and general poor respect to agriculture by governments. The hoped outcome from these protests is for farmers to have protection from cheaper imports to protect their livelihoods. As Australia’s agriculture is prized around the world, we also have many farmers close to bankruptcy and exhaustion – as they struggle to get product to market that is profitable. While discussion agriculture may not feel immediately relevant when discussing finance, it definitely plays a big part in cost of living discussions. If raw food products and farmers were to receive any kind of relief from either government or simply achieve an increase in price – the flow on effect in inflation could be quite high.

As expected through charting and worldwide news, Gold continues to strive upwards. Enjoy today’s charts and technical forecast below.

Gold daily chart, with 200MDA

Silver daily chart, with 200MDA

US500, with 200MDA

ASX200, with 200MDA

Gold Futures Technical Analysis

Gold Futures monthly analysis continues to recommend a STRONG BUY with Weekly analysis a STRONG BUY signal.

Technical indicators – Monthly Projections

 Summary for Monthly forecast: STRONG BUY

*Not financial advice, please do your own research prior to any investment decisions you make.