Gold stayed firm above $2,500 for the third straight day after Minutes of the US Federal Reserve (Fed) opened the door for an interest rate cut at the upcoming September meeting, weakening the Greenback. The XAU/USD trades at $2,511, virtually unchanged.
Investors cheered the content of the Fed’s July meeting Minutes as Wall Street continued to trade in green territory. The Greenback tumbled sharply over 0.20%, as reflected by the US Dollar Index (DXY), which hovers around 101.10.
The Minutes revealed that most Fed participants said that “it would likely be appropriate to ease policy at the next meeting if data continued to come in as expected,” adding that the progress on inflation and the increase in the unemployment rate opened the door for a quarter or a percentage point rate cut at the July meeting.
Although Fed officials voted unanimously to hold rates unchanged at the July meeting, many officials saw rates as restrictive. Regarding the Fed’s dual mandate, risks have become more balanced, with most policymakers growing more concerned about achieving the maximum employment mandate, while inflation risks have diminished slightly.
In addition, traders will be eyeing a light economic docket, with the release of Initial Jobless Claims, S&P Global PMIs and housing data on Thursday.
On Friday, traders will watch Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the beginning of the Jackson Hole Symposium, hosted by the Kansas City Fed in Wyoming.
Daily digest market movers: Gold price is firm after FOMC Minutes
Gold prices advanced as US Treasury bond yields slumped. The US 10-year Treasury note is down 1.5 basis points (bps) at 3.792%.
Following the release of the last FOMC minutes, traders expect 102 basis points of easing, according to the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) December 2024 fed funds futures contract.
US Initial Jobless Claims data for the week ending August 17 are expected to rise to 230K, up from 227K a week before.
Business activity revealed by S&P Global is expected to show a slight decrease in the Services PMI from 55 to 54. The Manufacturing PMI is foreseen remaining unchanged at 49.6.
Existing Home Sales are expected to grow from 3.89 million to 3.93 million.
Technical analysis: Gold price to test $2,550 once it clears $2,530
Gold’s daily chart suggests that the yellow metal is expected to rise further if buyers breach the all-time high at $2,531. Momentum suggests that bulls are in charge, as portrayed by the Relative Strength Index (RSI).
Therefore, XAU/USD first resistance would be the $2,550 area, followed by the $2,600 mark. Nevertheless, Gold’s weakness and the non-yielding metal could retrace below the $2,500 figure.
In that outcome, the next support would be the July 17 peak at $2,483, followed by the May 20 high at $2,450. Once cleared, the next stop would be the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) at $2,395.
Source: Fxstreet
