Goldand silver pricesare solidly up and in early-afternoon U.S. trading Wednesday, and have ralliedto daily highs following the Federal Reserve’s FOMC statement that was deemeddovish. Gold notched an eight-month high, while silver pushed to six-monthhighs. February gold futures were last up $7.30 an ounce at $1,316.10. MarchComex silver was last up $0.181 at $16.02 an ounce.

The economic highlight at mid-week isthe Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting that began onTuesday morning and ended this afternoon with a statement on monetary policy. The statementcontained no monetary policy changes but the FOMC members said they will now bepatient on future Fed rate hikes due to muted inflationary pressures and someconcerns about global economic growth. The FOMC statement also suggested theFed will not be in such a hurry to reduce its balance sheet of U.S. securities.While no change in monetary policy was expected, the FOMC statement was deemedfully dovish on U.S. monetary policy. Now traders are awaiting the pressconference from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, set to begin shortly. Powell isgetting a reputation for putting his foot in his mouth while making comments tothe press or at speeches. The U.S. dollar index sold off on the dovish FOMCstatement, while the U.S. stock market rallied solidly to its daily high.

Today’s U.S. ADP national employmentreport showed a rise of 213,000 jobs in January. That was well above theaverage trade guess of up 183,000. Gold and silver prices did not see anysignificant price moves after the report. The ADP report is a precursor toFriday morning’s more important Employment Situation Report issued by the LaborDepartment.

The U.K. parliament on Tuesday eveningbacked the “Plan B” Brexit initiative from Prime Minister Theresa May, albeit notwhole-heartedly. The Parliament had rejected May’s initial Brexit plan. Themarketplace was not significantly impacted by that news.