Pre-Fed Stasis: Precious Metals Anchor at Key Levels as Markets Await Powell’s Guidance

TradingKey - On the eve of the Federal Reserve's interest rate meeting, gold and silver prices continue to fluctuate, but this calm market performance could be broken at any time.

On March 18 (GMT+8), a strong wait-and-see sentiment prevailed in the precious metals market, with gold and silver fluctuating around the key psychological levels of $5,000 and $80, respectively. As of press time, spot gold ( XAUUSD) rose 0.05%, trading at $5,007/oz; spot silver ( XAGUSD) rose 0.8%, with the current price at $79.92/oz.

Gold price chart, source: TradingView

Over the past three days, gold and silver prices have stalled, fluctuating slightly around key levels. However, this calm is set to be broken as the Fed's policy meeting approaches. In the early hours of this Thursday (GMT+8), the Federal Reserve will announce its March interest rate decision.

Currently, the market widely expects the Fed to keep interest rates unchanged, with CME data showing a 99.9% probability of no rate cut. However, three other matters warrant attention: the stance of U.S. President Donald Trump, whether Fed Chair Jerome Powell will remain as a governor, and his own statements regarding the impact of the Middle East situation.

In fact, Trump's initiation of war against Iran and his conflict with Powell have brought significant uncertainty to the Federal Reserve. Since taking office, Trump has repeatedly pushed Powell to cut rates, but his demands have never been met. On March 17, Trump spoke out again, demanding that the Fed immediately hold a special meeting to cut interest rates.