Most Popular
1. It’s a New Macro, the Gold Market Knows It, But Dead Men Walking Do Not (yet)- Gary_Tanashian
2.Stock Market Presidential Election Cycle Seasonal Trend Analysis - Nadeem_Walayat
3. Bitcoin S&P Pattern - Nadeem_Walayat
4.Nvidia Blow Off Top - Flying High like the Phoenix too Close to the Sun - Nadeem_Walayat
4.U.S. financial market’s “Weimar phase” impact to your fiat and digital assets - Raymond_Matison
5. How to Profit from the Global Warming ClImate Change Mega Death Trend - Part1 - Nadeem_Walayat
7.Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast 2024 - - Nadeem_Walayat
8.The Bond Trade and Interest Rates - Nadeem_Walayat
9.It’s Easy to Scream Stocks Bubble! - Stephen_McBride
10.Fed’s Next Intertest Rate Move might not align with popular consensus - Richard_Mills
Last 7 days
US Presidential Election Year Stock Market Seasonal Trend - 29th Nov 24
Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past - 29th Nov 24
Gold After Trump Wins - 29th Nov 24
The AI Stocks, Housing, Inflation and Bitcoin Crypto Mega-trends - 27th Nov 24
Gold Price Ahead of the Thanksgiving Weekend - 27th Nov 24
Bitcoin Gravy Train Trend Forecast to June 2025 - 24th Nov 24
Stocks, Bitcoin and Crypto Markets Breaking Bad on Donald Trump Pump - 21st Nov 24
Gold Price To Re-Test $2,700 - 21st Nov 24
Stock Market Sentiment Speaks: This Is My Strong Warning To You - 21st Nov 24
Financial Crisis 2025 - This is Going to Shock People! - 21st Nov 24
Dubai Deluge - AI Tech Stocks Earnings Correction Opportunities - 18th Nov 24
Why President Trump Has NO Real Power - Deep State Military Industrial Complex - 8th Nov 24
Social Grant Increases and Serge Belamant Amid South Africa's New Political Landscape - 8th Nov 24
Is Forex Worth It? - 8th Nov 24
Nvidia Numero Uno in Count Down to President Donald Pump Election Victory - 5th Nov 24
Trump or Harris - Who Wins US Presidential Election 2024 Forecast Prediction - 5th Nov 24
Stock Market Brief in Count Down to US Election Result 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Gold Stocks’ Winter Rally 2024 - 3rd Nov 24
Why Countdown to U.S. Recession is Underway - 3rd Nov 24
Stock Market Trend Forecast to Jan 2025 - 2nd Nov 24
President Donald PUMP Forecast to Win US Presidential Election 2024 - 1st Nov 24
At These Levels, Buying Silver Is Like Getting It At $5 In 2003 - 28th Oct 24
Nvidia Numero Uno Selling Shovels in the AI Gold Rush - 28th Oct 24
The Future of Online Casinos - 28th Oct 24
Panic in the Air As Stock Market Correction Delivers Deep Opps in AI Tech Stocks - 27th Oct 24
Stocks, Bitcoin, Crypto's Counting Down to President Donald Pump! - 27th Oct 24
UK Budget 2024 - What to do Before 30th Oct - Pensions and ISA's - 27th Oct 24
7 Days of Crypto Opportunities Starts NOW - 27th Oct 24
The Power Law in Venture Capital: How Visionary Investors Like Yuri Milner Have Shaped the Future - 27th Oct 24
This Points To Significantly Higher Silver Prices - 27th Oct 24

Market Oracle FREE Newsletter

How to Protect your Wealth by Investing in AI Tech Stocks

Gold Price Challenges $1350

Commodities / Gold and Silver 2014 Mar 07, 2014 - 10:24 AM GMT

By: Alasdair_Macleod

Commodities

From last Friday's close at $1322, gold opened strongly on Monday trading, as high as $1355 before losing two thirds of the rise on Tuesday. On Thursday afternoon (GMT) gold rallied back to challenge the $1350 level. This morning (Friday) it is in the balance as to whether or not gold will need more consolidation before moving on towards $1400, with everyone watching out for US employment numbers.

The change in sentiment over the last eight weeks has encouraged small traders to go long on gold. Normally, market-makers would be able to mark prices down aggressively to shake out these short-term speculators, but it has not recently happened. This suggests that the underlying market is robust.


Admittedly political developments in the Ukraine are acting as a positive factor, potentially stimulating regional gold demand from countries such as Turkey. There are signs that investor liquidity may also be building in China, driven by bond market concerns. China suffered a minor corporate bond default this morning, notable because it is the first that has been allowed to happen, and it has led to other planned issues being put on hold. Gold is likely to benefit, driven by a new source of Chinese investor anxiety.

In theory at these levels there are stale gold bulls from last October/November to take out before the price can regain the $1400-1420 level, which halted the July/August run-up last year. This can be seen in the chart of the gold price below.

Weekly Gold Chart

Neither of these supply hurdles should be significant, because of the significant change in underlying sentiment. Furthermore, the ephemeral nature of futures contracts makes past supply levels progressively less important with time.

Silver which is normally twice as volatile as gold, underperformed in January before catching up somewhat last month as shown in the second chart. If gold gets above the $1350s, silver will still have some catching up to do.

Weekly Silver Chart

The futures markets for precious metals are now at a crossroad. The short positions of the hedge funds, which have driven gold and silver prices higher have now been significantly reduced and are no longer extreme. In gold the bullion banks appear to have taken these positions onto their books and also as swaps. In silver, the shorts have been crossed out against matching longs with open interest falling by 18,000 contracts since mid-February. So instead of precious metals being driven by a bear squeeze, the market will need to either continue to lose physical metal to Asia or find growing support from new bulls attracted by the reversal in trend.

Both are quite likely, and probably explain why gold is bid, despite some obvious profit-taking.

Next week's calendar

Monday. Eurozone: Sentix Indicator. Japan: M2 Money Supply, Economy Watchers Survey.

Tuesday. UK: BRC Retail Sales Monitor, Industrial Production, Manufacturing Production, NEISR GDP Estimate. US: Wholesale Inventories. Japan: BoJ MPC Overnight Rate.

Wednesday. Japan: Consumer Confidence, Key Machinery Orders. UK: Trade Balance. Eurozone: Industrial Production. US: Budget Deficit.

Thursday. US: Import Price Index, Initial Claims, Retail Sales, Business Inventories.

Friday. Japan: Capacity Utilisation, Industrial Production. Eurozone: Employment. US: PPI.

Alasdair Macleod

Head of research, GoldMoney

Alasdair.Macleod@GoldMoney.com

Alasdair Macleod runs FinanceAndEconomics.org, a website dedicated to sound money and demystifying finance and economics. Alasdair has a background as a stockbroker, banker and economist. He is also a contributor to GoldMoney - The best way to buy gold online.

© 2014 Copyright Alasdair Macleod - All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Alasdair Macleod Archive

© 2005-2022 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.


Post Comment

Only logged in users are allowed to post comments. Register/ Log in