[…] Gold and silver have come back sharply to the levels that they had occupied before the smackdown related to options expiration and perception modifying in preparation for the Jobs Report.
I suspect that the Fed will try to squeeze in at least one rate increase before the Presidential elections. I don’t think they can do 50 bp but a 25 bp increase might be feasible with the right wording.
June seems a bit of a stretch, but it does leave the door open for another increase should they find a favorable set of data to smooth their way.
In a very real sense the slight movement of interest rates do not matter all that much at this point to the real economy. They are a blunt instrument, more symbolic than effective. But they are almost hypersensitive to unbalanced financial markets made tipsy by excess.