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Gold has traded between $1,226 and $1,237 so far today…as of 10:00 am Pacific, bullion is down $4 an ounce at $1,231 on more chart consolidation and profit taking ahead of tomorrow’s Fed announcement…Silver is off a nickel at $15.27…Copper has shed a penny to $2.24…Crude Oil has dropped $1.11 a barrel to $36.07 while the U.S. Dollar Index has gained one-tenth of a point to 96.70…

SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest Gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 1.08% to 790.14 tonnes yesterday from 798.77 tonnes on Friday, one of the rare outflow days in recent weeks…

UBS on Gold:  “The market has had a good run so far this year and some more consolidation would be healthy at this juncture, especially given the rebound in equities and recent positive surprises in U.S. employment and inflation data.  The pullbacks in Gold this year have generally been relatively shallow and short-lived, not really providing investors with many chances to get in at better levels. But FOMC risks up ahead suggest that this week’s pullback could offer market participants who have so far opted to stay on the sidelines the opportunity to build Gold exposure at more attractive levels.”

As John’s charts have shown (updated version this morning), Gold has a very strong support band between $1,200 and $1,220…

Antofagasta, the publicly-traded Copper miner controlled by Chile’s richest family, fell as much as 10% in the London market today (rebounded to close 4.5% lower) after the company reported that its annual annual profit slumped 99% because of the 2015 metals rout, forcing the producer to abandon its dividend…sales dropped 34% to $3.4 billion.  “We know that Copper is a cyclical industry and as a result of the actions that we have taken over the past year we will be positioned to benefit from the recovery when it comes,” CEO Diego Hernandez stated…

The Bank of Japan left its monetary policy unchanged today but downgraded its view of the economy, opening the door to further action in months ahead…the BOJ’s decision followed the ECB’s moves last week to cut negative rates further and expand its asset-buying program, underscoring the difficulty major central banks are encountering in terms of trying to prop up slowing growth…economic conditions in Japan have improved little – some have worsened – since the BOJ decided in late January to impose negative rates, an unorthodox step seen as a desperate attempt to ignite growth…

Fed Watch

The Fed began its 2-day meeting today but the overwhelming consensus is that the central bank will keep rates unchanged when it unveils a fresh policy statement tomorrow…however, nearly all the economists, fund managers and strategists in the latest CNBC Fed Survey predict that the next rate hike will come in June…in fact, 83% say the Fed’s next rate increase could come in June or even earlier, with a small minority saying April or May…

The sharp revision to U.S. January retail sales was this morning’s major data surprise…January’s sales were adjusted to show a 0.4% decline instead of the previously reported 0.2% increase…meanwhile, the Commerce Department also reported that February retail sales dipped 0.1% as automobile purchases slowed and cheaper gasoline undercut receipts at service stations…

U.S. producer prices fell in February on lower energy and food costs, but prices were unchanged from a year ago, suggesting the downward trend was near an end…the Labor Department said today that its producer price index (PPI) dropped 0.2% last month after edging up 0.1% percent in January…in the 12 months through February, the PPI was unchanged after falling 0.2% in January – the first time since the beginning of 2015 that the year-on-year PPI did not decline…

In today’s Morning vMusings…

1.  Gold’s current technical strengths…

2.  Gold Standard Ventures (GSV, TSX-V) releases updated resource estimate for Pinion deposit in Nevada…

3.  Updated charts for PGM and BFF…

Plus more…to view the rest of today’s Morning Musings, login with your username and password, or click here to gain full access to this and other exclusive BMR content and features…