Gold Mixed, Hits 4-Week High, as Bulls Gaining Technical Momentum
San Francisco (Jan 12) Gold prices are mixed but scored a four-week high in early U.S. trading Monday. Comex futures prices are modestly higher and the cash (spot) market is modestly weaker. The near-term technical posture for the gold market has been slowly improving recently and the bulls gained a bit more upside momentum Monday. February Comex gold was last up $3.60 at $1,219.70 an ounce. Spot gold was last down $3.70 at $1,220.25. March Comex silver last traded up $0.056 at $16.48 an ounce.
The two key “outside markets” are in a bearish posture for the precious metals and the raw commodity markets Monday, as crude oil prices lower and hovering near last week’s 5.5-year low. The U.S. dollar index is higher and is near last week’s 10-year high. Gold’s resilience in the face of the stronger greenback and falling oil prices is also an encouraging signal for gold market bulls.
World stock markets were mostly firmer overnight, including the major U.S. indexes. The stock market bulls have made solid rebounds from the January lows, but there are still technical clues the indexes have, or are close to, topping out.
In overnight news, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported economic growth in the coming months is likely to be stable in the U.S. and Canada, to slow in Germany, Italy Russia and the U.K., and to increase in China and India.
In another worrisome development on the deflation watch, copper prices fell to a 4.5-year low overnight. Recent weaker economic data coming out of major copper consumer China, and the plunging price of crude oil, have sunk the major industrial red metal.
The next major data point coming into focus for traders and investors is the January 22 meeting of the European Central Bank. Recent downbeat European Union economic data, the specter of price deflation and rhetoric coming from ECB officials suggest the central bank will soon initiate monetary stimulus in the forming of quantitative easing.
U.S. economic data out Monday is light and includes the employment trends index and the monthly USDA grains report.
Source: KitcoNews
