Week In Review: Gold Rally Will Advance With Fed On Hold, Silver Eyes $25, Oil Outlook Bearish
Macroeconomic Highlights
The big macro news this week came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which said that employers added only 148K jobs in September, well below the 180K that was expected. That immediately fueled expectations that the Fed will refrain from tapering its bond-buying program for the rest of the year.
Still, the unemployment rate ticked down from 7.3 to 7.2 percent unexpectedly, which is the lowest level in five years.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said that existing home sales in the U.S. fell by 1.9 percent to 5.29 million units annualized, close to expectations. Even so, home sales remain near the highest levels in four years.
Finally, surging lending rates pushed the Chinese stocks to multiweek lows. China's seven-day repurchase rate jumped by the most since July and was last trading near 4.67 percent. The Chinese 10-year government bond yield rose to 4.21 percent, the richest level since September 2008.