by Craig Hemke, Sprott Money:

The year ahead will be volatile and, at times, quite frustrating for the precious metals. Already in the first two weeks, we’ve seen some significant down days as well as one very nice up day. Expect this type of trading to continue as January grinds toward February.

As the year begins, there’s really only one variable in play for COMEX gold. Namely, what is the likelihood that the Fed will cut the fed funds rate at the FOMC meeting in March? That March meeting is still eight weeks away, so it would seem to be somewhat impossible to accurately predict what the Fed will or will not do. But that doesn’t keep some of the big investment banks from trying.