Silver sheds 1.8%, gold down 1% after Fed call

The prices of white and yellow metal retreated on Thursday following the Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting during which the officials decided to keep interest rates steady at 5.25% and 5.50%.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell underlined that “further progress on inflation is not assured,” stressing that the central bank will not ease its policy until officials have greater confidence that inflation was moving sustainably down to its 2% objective. The comments appeared to have weakened investors’ appetite for safe-haven assets, with all eyes on non farm employment data expected on May 3.

Silver fell 1.79% to sell at $26.17 per ounce at 6:19 am ET. Gold was down 0.98% to trade at $2,296.62 per ounce at the same time.