Gold prices next week welcome a series of important economic data, Fed becomes the focus

After a volatile trading week, world gold prices entered the new week with the focus being a series of important economic events, especially the monetary policy decision of the US Federal Reserve (Fed).

Investors are focusing on monitoring interest rate movements in the context that gold prices have just been under pressure from a stronger USD, US bond yields have increased, and expectations that the Fed may maintain a tighter monetary policy.

According to the economic calendar, on Wednesday (September 16), the market will receive the US retail sales report for August. This is important data to assess the health of the world's largest economy, and may also affect expectations about the Fed's interest rate orientation.

The most notable thing of the week was the Fed's monetary policy meeting announced at 2:00 PM US time on September 16 (i.e., early morning of September 17 Vietnam time). Currently, the market is almost betting on the possibility of the Fed adjusting interest rates by another 0.25 percentage points.

The Fed's decision is of particular importance to gold prices. When interest rates rise, the USD and bond yields tend to rise, reducing the attractiveness of gold - a non-performing asset. Conversely, if signals from the Fed show that the monetary tightening cycle is about to end, the precious metal may be supported by cash flow seeking safe-haven assets.

In addition to the Fed, the Bank of England (BoE) will also announce its monetary policy decision in the early morning of Thursday (September 17). On the same day, the market continued to monitor a series of US economic data including weekly unemployment claims, the Philadelphia Fed's production survey, the number of houses started construction, construction permits, and outstanding home sales in August.

These figures may provide more signals about the health of the US economy, thereby affecting investors' expectations about the next steps of the Fed.

By the Asian trading session on Friday (September 18), the Bank of Japan (BoJ) will announce its monetary policy decision. Although the direct impact on gold prices may not be as large as the Fed, the BoJ's move is still of interest to the market as major central banks are adjusting policies to cope with inflation and economic growth.

Before a series of important events, analysts believe that gold prices may continue to experience strong fluctuations. After the decline in the past week, bottom-fishing buying pressure still appeared as the precious metal retreated to a lower price range, showing that the need for risk hedging is still present.

However, the short-term trend of gold will largely depend on the message from the Fed and the upcoming US economic data. If inflation remains persistent and the Fed maintains a tough stance, gold prices may face more pressure. Conversely, signals that monetary policy is less tight may create momentum for the precious metal to recover.

Update on domestic gold prices