BlockBeats report, August 29: After Federal Reserve Chair Wouhs delivered remarks on suppressing inflation pressures, market bets on Fed rate hikes surged significantly. The U.S. dollar strengthened accordingly, and prices of gold and other precious metals came under heavy pressure and fell sharply. As of the time of publication, spot gold was down 2.6% for the day, with a drop exceeding $120, trading at $4,480 per ounce. Earlier in the session, it briefly touched a one-week low of $4,464.

Independent analyst Tai Wong pointed out: “Chairman Wouhs clearly stated that inflation has not seen any material slowdown, and emphasized that the U.S. Federal Reserve still has ‘work to do.’ This remark triggered a sharp sell-off in the gold market. Although this may still be a communications strategy of ‘loud thunder, little rain,’ it was enough to leave the market in a stalemate in which the odds of a rate hike versus a pause at the September meeting are about evenly split.” Wouhs’ remarks are his most public acknowledgment so far that additional rate hikes may be needed to ease price pressures. In his speech, he noted that if policymakers cannot be certain that core inflation is steadily returning to the 2% target, the Fed “still has work to do.”

受此影响，交易员迅速加大了对 9 月加息的押注规模。其他贵金属品种方面，现货白银下跌 3.63%，报每盎司 66.77 美元；现货铂金日内由涨转跌，跌幅达 0.27%，至 1841.9 美元；现货钯金则涨幅收窄至 5.05%，报 1418.3 美元。