Afternoon comment courtesy of Spreadex

World markets maintained their 5 year highs, finishing the week on major gains after the US Federal Reserve’s shock decision to keep its flow of stimulus steady. European markets dipped into the red on Friday as investors locked in some of the gains we have seen this week. 

US markets remained little changed, pointing to a slightly lower open as investors awaited speeches from Federal Reserve policy makers after the central bank unexpectedly refrained from reducing stimulus this week.  

Despite gold heading for its first annual drop in 13 years, investors took to the metal this week as gold surged and the dollar slumped to a seven-month low on the back of the Feds monetary policy decision.  Gold gave up some of its gains today, trading $20 lower as data showed sings the US economy is improving.