gold bars
Gold rose to $3,299 ahead of the Fed’s next decision on interest rates later this week.Srinophan69/Getty Images
  • Gold prices rose to $3,299 on Monday morning.

  • The jump came ahead of the Fed’s next interest rate decision on Wednesday.

  • Rates are widely expected to remain unchanged, despite pressure from President Donald Trump.

Gold prices rose on Monday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate decision later this week.

The metal jumped to $3,299 per troy ounce as of 5.27 a.m. ET after a week of losses that ended in an overall decline of around 3% by Friday.

Gold has hit a number of record highs this year. It passed the $3,500 threshold for the first time last month, having passed the $3,000 mark for the first time in March.

This came amid fears of an economic slowdown, tariff uncertainty, and central bank purchases driving up demand.

It’s widely expected that the central bank will not cut or hike interest rates on Wednesday, when it’s next set to meet.

This is despite President Donald Trump‘s criticisms about keeping interest rates unchanged. Trump called Fed Chair Jerome Powell a “major loser” in a Truth Social post last month.

Deutsche Bank said in a note on Monday that its US economists “expect the Fed to keep rates steady and avoid explicit forward guidance about the policy path ahead.”

Deutsche Bank analysts said they “continue to see the next rate cut coming in December.”

Meanwhile, strategists at Goldman Sachs wrote in a note on Sunday that the Federal Open Market Committee “appears to be setting a higher bar for rate cuts than during the 2019 trade war.”

They added: “With inflation and survey-based inflation expectations now much higher, participants will want to see more compelling evidence that the economy is slowing and rate cuts are needed before they act.”

Gold is up against a weaker US dollar, which is down almost 0.4% against its rival currencies since its previous close on Friday.

The metal is seen as a popular “safe-haven” asset amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

“Safe-haven” assets are those that typically maintain their value during periods of market turbulence.

Read the original article on Business Insider