During the speech, Powell did not say anything about negative interest rates. However, this changes in the Q&A session. It indicates that the Fed's opinion on negative interest rates does not change. This means that we should not expect them to be introduced in the coming months. Powell points out that in October the Fed ruled out the possibility of introducing negative rates and since then this sentence has not changed. Powell points out that there is evidence that the effectiveness of negative interest rates is very mixed.
On the other hand, Powell points out that the Fed has a very good and practical set of monetary policy tools and intends to continue using it. Therefore, it can be presumed that this is a further development of the QE program, probably in terms of the size and type of securities purchased. The dollar limits its losses, gold withdraws in response to a sentence regarding negative interest rates.
Gold fell to around USD 1,700 per ounce when negative interest rates were excluded. Source: xStation5
