Gold rises and touches $2,000/oz

Inflation is expected to fall tomorrow with the US CPI expected at 5. 2%. Should inflation actually fall tomorrow, the Fed may resume raising interest rates to 5.25%.

Meanwhile, the yen weakened after Japan’s new central bank governor vowed to maintain an ultra-loose policy. Consumer price index data on Wednesday will encourage the market to expect a rate hike next month, but more important reports on Thursday and Friday will show the extent of emergency funding for banks, said Marc Chandler, chief market strategist at Bannockburn Global Forex in New York.

Fed lending to banks in the past four weeks has increased by more than $400 billion and offset almost two-thirds of the quantitative tightening that began a year ago, said Joe LaVorgna, chief US economist at SMBC Nikko Securities in New York. (Reuters)