Gold Bulls Flexing Their Muscles, Prices Hit 5-Week High

(Kitco News) - Gold pricesweremoderately up and hit a five-week high in early-afternoon U.S. trading Monday.Bullish traders stepped in to buy the overnight dip as the U.S. day session gotunder way. The technical posture of the gold market has improved markedly justrecently, which is inspiring more chart-based buying interest. April Comex gold futures were last up $5.30 an ounce at $1,355.20. May Comex silver was last up$0.133 at $16.715 an ounce.

Goldscored gains today despite better risk appetite in the marketplace to start thetrading week. World stock markets were mostly higher Monday. U.S. stock indexeswere holding solid gains in early afternoon trading.

ReportsSunday said Chinese trade officials have agreed to sit down and negotiate withU.S. trade officials regarding the U.S.’s issues regarding bilateral trade withChina. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin on Sunday said the U.S. was“working on a pathway” to reach agreement with the Chinese. And the SouthKoreans have agreed to some U.S. terms on U.S. trade disputes with thatcountry. All of the above has made a world trade war less likely. The less riskaversion is still one negative for the safe-haven gold and silver markets.

Thekey “outside markets” on Monday saw the U.S. dollar index lower and hitting afive-week low. The weaker greenback worked in favor of the precious metalsmarkets bulls today. The greenback bears have downside momentum. Meantime,Nymex crude oil prices were lower on some profit taking after hitting atwo-month high overnight.

Technically,Aprilgold futures bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage andhave technical momentum on their side. Gold bulls' next upside near-term pricebreakout objective is to produce a close above solid technical resistance atthe January high of $1,370.50. Bears' next near-term downside price breakoutobjective is pushing prices below solid technical support at $1,320.00. Firstresistance is seen at today’s high of $1,356.00 and then at the February highof $1,364.40. First support is seen at today’s low of $1,343.40 and then at$1,335.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.5

Maysilver futures bears have the slight overall near-term technical advantage.However, the bulls have gained some upside technical momentum recently. Silverbulls' next upside price breakout objective is closing prices above solidtechnical resistance at $17.00 an ounce. The next downside price breakoutobjective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the March lowof $16.10. First resistance is seen at today’s high of $16.795 and then at theMarch high of $16.895. Next support is seen at $16.50 and then at $16.33.Wyckoff's Market Rating: 4.5.

MayN.Y. copper closed down 210 points at 297.15 cents today. Prices closed nearmid-range today and hit a six-month low. The copper bears have the slightnear-term technical advantage. Prices are in a six-week-old downtrend on thedaily bar chart. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing andclosing prices above solid technical resistance at 310.00 cents. The nextdownside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technicalsupport at the September low of 293.25 cents. First resistance is seen at300.00 cents and 303.05 cents. First support is seen at 293.25 cents and thenat 292.00 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 4.0.

By Jim Wyckoff

For Kitco News

Follow @jimwyckoffjwyckoff@kitco.comwww.kitco.com Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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