Concerns that there is an economicslowdown put pressure on the equities markets overseas, which carried over intothe U.S. markets Friday.

As reported by Bloomberg News,“Volatility continued to grip financial markets, with U.S. stocks heading totheir lowest close since April and Treasuries rising alongside the yen, asmounting concern over the health of the global economy overshadowed positivetrade developments and signs of strength from the American consumer.”

Once again, we see that dollarstrength or weakness has been the primary price influencer on precious metals.Dollar strength continues to put dynamic pressure on gold, silver, platinum,and palladium.

Palladium prices tested the record highprice once again this week as it unsuccessfully attempted to trade at or above$1,200 per ounce, this the second attempt in the last two weeks

Which brings us to next week when the Federal Reserve will hold its final FOMC meeting forthe year. Although it is widely anticipated that the Fed will announcean interest rate hike, as well as verbiage indicating a much more dovish tonenext year. With recent extreme volatility in US stocks, the Federal Reserve hasa daunting task in that it is currently placing any decision between a rock anda hard place. If the Federal Reserve moves forward with its announced plan toraise rates, it could create a cascading effect which would facilitate afurther selloff in US equity pricing. If the Fed announces a pause of interestrate hikes this month, it could be accused of bucking to pressure from recentstatements by President Trump challenging its independence. Whatever decisionthe Fed moves forward with next week could easily have dramatic repercussions.