Rising bond yields have the precious metals bulls squeamish at mid-week, amid hawkish rhetoric coming from the Federal Reserve. Traders are highly anticipating the afternoon release of the Fed's FOMC minutes.
Usually dovish Fed governor Lael Brainard on Tuesday said the Russia-Ukraine war has further stoked inflation and that inflation must be tamped down aggressively. She also suggested the Fed will begin selling off its big balance sheet of bonds (quantitative tightening). U.S. Treasury yields spiked up on her remarks. Meanwhile, "European countries consider banning Russian energy imports."
NUGT usually has big volatility. To me, it usually looks manipulated (to take out any near-by stops in both directions?).