Gold slips below US$4,330 as Fed signals further hikes, oil weakness weighs
Gold prices fell to US$4,325.30 an ounce Monday, marking a 1.3% intraday decline, as traders priced in the risk of additional US Federal Reserve interest rate hikes and a broader pullback in oil prices.
Source: The Business Times · September 22, 2026 at 12:32 AM · AI-assisted report
Single-sourceLONDON, 22 SEPTEMBER 2026 —
Gold prices fell to US$4,325.30 an ounce Monday, marking a 1.3% intraday decline, as traders priced in the risk of additional US Federal Reserve interest rate hikes and a broader pullback in oil prices.
Market Impact
The drop came after a heavy London bullion market auction saw sellers outnumber buyers four-to-one, according to traders, while Fed officials reinforced expectations of tighter monetary policy. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee warned that persistent supply shocks—including those tied to oil—could force the central bank to act aggressively, even at the cost of economic strain.
“Supply shocks have come more frequently, hit harder, and lasted longer,” Goolsbee said Monday at a London event. “Once they become persistent, the logic behind ‘looking through’ inflationary pressures no longer holds.”
The Fed’s last rate hike—its 11th since March 2022—followed a unanimous vote last week, with policymakers citing inflation that has remained above the 2% target for over five years. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari echoed that stance Sunday, noting that price pressures now extend beyond the oil-market volatility stemming from the US-Iran conflict.
With New York Fed President John Williams set to speak Tuesday at the 2026 US Treasury Market Conference, traders are bracing for further signals on the Fed’s path. Analysts at Global X ETFs described the current market environment as “a lull,” with gold trading more in tandem with oil prices and broader inflation expectations than with Fed policy shifts.
Oil’s retreat below US$100 a barrel—Brent crude’s longest decline streak since June—further pressured gold. Robust flows through the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic progress on the US-Iran war have tempered recent rallies, though traders remain watchful of geopolitical risks. At midday in New York, spot gold was down 0.7% at US$4,349.96 an ounce, while silver held steady at US$66.22.
Platinum and palladium, meanwhile, edged higher, reflecting their industrial demand resilience amid weaker investor sentiment for gold. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%, reinforcing the inverse relationship between the greenback and non-yielding assets like bullion.
For Malaysian investors, gold’s decline—while not directly tied to domestic markets—highlights the sensitivity of commodity-linked assets to global monetary policy and geopolitical tensions. With Bank Negara Malaysia maintaining its overnight policy rate at 3.5% amid domestic inflation easing, local investors may observe gold’s movements as a barometer for broader risk sentiment, particularly in sectors exposed to commodity price volatility.