How FOMC rate decisions impact gold
At each decision the FOMC sets a target for the overnight rate banks charge each other, and other short-term rates follow it.
A cut lowers what cash and bonds pay, and with it the cost of holding gold, which pays no interest; a hike does the reverse.
Of the last 10 rate changes, six were cuts and four were hikes; three months on, gold's monthly average was up a median 12.7% after the cuts and down 1.8% after the three hikes the record covers so far.
Those moves all fall in one recent cycle, and many other things moved gold in the same months.
An explainer from the chart's Learn library. What the record did, not a forecast.
Updated Oct 2026 · record through Oct 2026