We saw more action yesterday morning in the precious metals market with first quarter’s weak GDP number than we did when the FOMC minutes were released yesterday afternoon.

We saw more action yesterday morning in the precious metals market with first quarter’s weak GDP number than we did when the FOMC minutes were released yesterday afternoon. The Fed is trimming its bond purchases by another $10 billion from $55 billion/month to $45 billion/month. According to the Fed, a weak first quarter GDP was expected due to adverse weather conditions. Quantitative easing is expected to be completed by October while rates are expected to rise by mid-2015. “The Committee expects that, with appropriate policy accommodation, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace and labor market conditions will continue to improve gradually.” Now that the Fed has continued its pull back program by another $10B as expected, investors are anxiously waiting for tomorrow’s Nonfarm Payroll figures. Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending 4/26 are up 14,000 with a reading of 344,000. Personal spending for March is up .9% vs. expectations of.6%. Have a wonderful day!