Gold price strength was the particularly dovish tone emanating from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting

The gold price climbed $12.08, or 0.7%, to $1,723.63 per ounce Thursday morning as the yellow metal built on yesterday’s Fed-induced rally. Silver added to its gains alongside the gold price, by $0.27, or 0.8%, to $33.61 per ounce. Equity markets throughout Asia and Europe were largely higher, while U.S. markets looked to open in the black as well.

The primary catalyst for yesterday’s gold price strength was the particularly dovish tone emanating from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. There, the Federal Reserve chose to extend the timeframe for its zero-interest rate policy to late-2014 from mid-2013. Additionally, it introduced new language in the FOMC statement by saying that it intends to maintain a “highly accommodative” monetary policy stance for the foreseeable future.

Along with the statement, for the first time the Ben Bernanke-led Federal Reserve released a summary of economic projections from its individual members. In particular, the Fed provided a chart showing the time at which the central bankers feel it will be appropriate to conclude its accommodative monetary policy stance. Eleven of 17 members identified this time as 2014 or later, with four choosing 2015 and two choosing 2016.

Commenting on the Fed’s actions, Credit Suisse strategist Carl Lantz characterized the central bank as even more dovish than meets the eye. In a note to clients, Lantz wrote that “The fact that the FOMC was willing to provide late 2014 as the earliest likely date for the first rate hike suggests that the actual expectation is significantly beyond late 2014…We suggest that by announcing that the first hike is unlikely to occur until ‘at least’ late 2014, the FOMC is actually providing the bottom of a confidence band around the committee’s intended estimate for the first hike…it would appear that the ‘core’ of the committee and a strong plurality of voters are in the 2015 or 2016 camps.”

With the Fed expected to keep the monetary spigots wide open for the next several years, real interest rates are likely to remain in negative territory for the better part of the decade. Furthermore, judging by the ascent in the price of gold on Wednesday, it appears that investors may agree with Lantz that rates are unlikely to rise until 2015 or 2016.

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