Gold futures climbed Thursday to their highest settlement in over a year after the Federal Reserve announced a quarter-point interest-rate hike a day earlier and signaled one more rate increase this year. While Fed Chairman Jerome Powell pushed back on market expectations of a rate cut this year, the market focused on the Fed’s “less hawkish” adjustment to the statement: the removal of “ongoing increases” from the text of the statement, said Fiona Cincotta, senior financial markets analyst at City Index. That suggested the central bank is “nearing the end of the hiking cycle.” Gold for April delivery GCJ23rose $46.30, or 2.4%, to settle at $1,995.90 an ounce on Comex. That was the highest most-active contract finish since March 10 of last year, FactSet data show.
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