Gold price weakens, silver loses 3.5%

NEW YORK (Dec 15) Prices of precious metals have seen significant losses in early trading on Thursday following the Federal Reserve's decision to hike the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points.

In their statement, they indicated that they expect to continue raising rates. Their updated forecast now predicts that interest rates will end in 2023 at 5.1% and 4.1% in 2024. These numbers are slightly higher than their previous projections of 4.6% and 3.9%, respectively.

Stock markets in the US, Asia-Pacific, and Europe all saw declines following the news.

Gold fell 1.61% to $1,777.56 per ounce at 4:30 am GMT. Silver also saw a decline, sinking 3.52% to $23.05 per ounce. Platinum dropped 2.02% to sell for $1,009.73 per ounce, and palladium decreased 0.87% to $1,888.75 per ounce.

Major European stock markets also opened lower. The DAX fell 0.76%. The FTSE 100 was down 0.19% and the CAC 40 decreased 0.84%.

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