Gold prices saw their strongest performance since early spring this week, with the precious metal buoyed by short covering and a strong safe haven bid at both the beginning and the end of the week.
The latest Kitco News Weekly Gold Survey sees market analysts and retail investors with a near-identical bullish consensus on the yellow metal’s prospects for the week ending October 20.
John Weyer, Director of the Commercial Hedge Division at Walsh Trading, said today’s massive price spike at 8:30 am EDT is what you see when the market opens with full participation and all eyes on gold. “I’m wondering if all the players showed up today and decided to go long,” he said. “I think ahead of the weekend, with all the events in Gaza, Israel, it’s a little bit of a risk-off safe-haven play.”
Weyer added that “we might give some of this back on Monday” if things remain steady with no additional escalation over the weekend. “I expect to be a little back and forth, but be higher next week,” he said.
“I am bullish on gold for the coming week,” said Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management. “It looks like US treasury yields and the US Dollar have paused for the moment and that may continue with focus turning to corporate earnings. Meanwhile with the war drums pounding louder, precious metals may continue to attract renewed interest in their haven for capital role.”
James Stanley, senior market strategist at Forex.com, sees more strength from the precious metal next week. “Gold put in a massive showing this week even as USD strength came back online,” he said. “The response to the oversold backdrop that I was talking about a couple of weeks ago has been intense and at this point, I see no evidence of that being finished.”
This week, 14 Wall Street analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey. Ten experts, or 72%, expected to see higher gold prices next week, while two analysts, or 14%, predicted a drop in price, and two others were neutral on gold for the coming week.
Meanwhile, 595 votes were cast in online polls. Of these, 431 retail investors, or 72%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 106, or 18%, expected it would be lower, while only 58 respondents, less than 1%, were neutral about the near-term prospects for the precious metal.
Source: Kitco
