Gold and silver plummet! Regarding interest rate cuts, the Federal Reserve's latest statement!

Overnight U.S. stocks plunged during trading. On February 12, international gold and silver opened with a sharp decline. The Federal Reserve’s rate cut faced unexpected changes.

On February 11, the three major U.S. stock indices closed slightly lower, with the Dow down 0.13%, the Nasdaq down 0.16%, and the S&P 500 down 0.01%.

In individual stocks, Google and Microsoft fell over 2%, Amazon dropped more than 1%, Intel rose over 2%, and Nvidia, Apple, and Tesla saw slight gains. Storage concept stocks surged, with SanDisk up over 10% and Micron Technology up over 9%.

In terms of news, media reports indicate that Apple’s upgrade to Siri virtual assistant faced testing obstacles, potentially delaying the release of several highly anticipated features.

Regarding Chinese concept stocks, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index fell 0.65%. China Internet Plus rose over 12%, Kingsoft Cloud up 10%, TSMC up over 3%, Bilibili and NIO up over 2%; NetEase fell over 4%, iQiyi down over 2%.

International gold and silver prices rose, with COMEX gold futures up 1.53% at $5,107.8 per ounce; COMEX silver futures up 4.6% at $84.085 per ounce. On February 12, spot gold and silver opened with a sharp decline after the market opened.

In news, U.S. President Trump held a closed-door meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the White House on February 11. He later posted on social media that reaching an agreement with Iran would be the “preferred” option for the U.S. Trump described the meeting as “very good” but stated that, apart from his insistence on continuing negotiations with Iran in hopes of reaching an agreement, no substantial results were achieved between the U.S. and Israel.

Analysts say that the U.S. January non-farm payroll data far exceeded expectations, indicating the economy remains solid, reducing the likelihood of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve before mid-year. It is reported that traders have delayed expectations of a Fed rate cut until July.

Citibank predicts the Fed will start cutting rates from May, earlier than the previous forecast of March.

Federal Reserve Board member Harker stated that current interest rates are roughly at a neutral level; maintaining the current stance is correct, and there is no need for fine-tuning monetary policy. Harker also mentioned that the rise in gold and metal prices may be related to inflation.

Fed Governor Mester said there are still many reasons to lower interest rates; if nominated, she is willing to continue serving at the Fed.

According to CME “Fed Watch,” the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut by the Fed in March is 5.9%, with a 94.1% chance of holding rates steady. The probability of a cumulative 25 basis point cut by April is 20.5%, with a 78.5% chance of no change; the chance of a cumulative 50 basis point cut is 1%. The probability of a 25 basis point cut by June is 48.1%.

(Source: Securities Times)