- Spot gold prices are heading into a week of tight mid-range trading.
- XAU/USD mixed on US NFP miss.
- The short-term trend is still tilted upwards.
XAU/USD hit an intraday high of just under $2,005 on Friday after the worst reading on US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) in nearly 3 years, but gold offers recovered in mid-day trading to finish near $1,992.50.
United States NFP the report missed expectations and showed the US added just 150K jobs in October compared to September’s buffer reading of 297K new jobs, a downward revision from the original print of 336K. Markets had originally expected October’s reading of 180,000, and this major error sent global markets soaring into the end of the trading week as investors cheered the announced end of Federal Reserve (Fed) rate hikes.
US nonfarm payrolls rose 150,000 in October, compared with the forecast of 180,000
Gold initially touched a weekly high of $2,008 on Tuesday before swinging to a weekly low of $1,970.
Despite the NFP setback, gold struggled to etch solid gains as cooler metal heads prevailed; despite cooling US data, inflation and excessive wage growth remain key factors for the Fed, and a single bad NFP figure will do little to push the Fed away from its “higher for longer” interest rate stance.
Money markets are currently pricing in the chances that the full interest rate will be cute by the end of 2024, an outlook that could be premature as Fed struggles with how to get a firm grip on price volatility.
XAU/USD Technical Outlook
Spot gold bids are being etched in the early stages of a near-term rising channel and bids are leaning to the bullish side with intraday action in XAU/USD trading north of the 200-hour simple moving average (SMA). rising from $1,985.
Spot gold is trading on the upper side of the 200-day SMA, currently moving towards $1,940, and Friday’s decline from the key $2,000 handle sees XAU/USD backing up in preparation for another summit run next week.
