Gold Trades to the Lowest Price of the Year
Although gold closed modestly higher on the day, the precious yellow metal scored its second consecutive week of lower pricing. Gold futures opened on Monday at $1281 per ounce and traded to a high of $1286. However, it was the weekly low of $1263 that fostered the greatest concern.
Considering that gold opened just above $1,300 per ounce at the beginning of the year, the last two weeks have resulted in gold trading to the lowest price of 2018.
The two critical factors which have placed the greatest amount of selling pressure has been a strong US dollar, and the Federal Reserve's current monetary policy of quantitative normalization.
The highest price that gold traded this year occurred during the week of April 9 when gold futures traded as high as $1,370 per ounce. At that time the dollar index was trading at 89, after forming a base and support from the lows achieved at the end of January. This week, the dollar index hit its highest value of the year when it traded to highs above 95. This represents a 6% gain this year.
While dollar strength explains the vast majority of gold's lower pricing this year, gold has lost approximately 7.2% of value from the highs achieved in April. The additional 1.2% is obviously due to selling pressure.
This month's FOMC meeting revealed a more hawkish Fed that created additional selling pressure. Although it was widely anticipated that the Fed would initiate its second-rate hike this year, they also revealed a possible addition of two more rate hikes in 2018.
A Death Cross Forming on Daily Gold Charts
On a technical basis, one of the more foreboding indicators is a real high probability that the short-term 50 day moving average will cross below the longer-term 200-day moving average, which is commonly referred to as a death cross.
Most technical analysts use the 200-day moving average as a gauge of a long-term trend, and the 50-day moving average as a gauge of the short-term trend. Any stock or commodity which is trending higher will result in the shorter-term moving average above the longer-term moving average. Therefore, a death cross can signal when a short-term decline has moved into a longer-term decline or downtrend.
Looming Trade War
The current dispute between the United States and China has been moving towards an all-out trade war. It will be the net effect on the US dollar if and when tariffs begin to be enforced that will indicate the future direction of gold. As of now the current dispute and the recent announcement by the European Central Bank has strengthened the dollar.
As reported in MarketWatch, "Gold traders, however, have mostly dismissed those anxiety-provoking events that normally would be supportive of gold's price to focus on a stronger buck and the prospect of central bank policy tightening taking hold in key developed markets."
If tariffs are enforced in July as proposed, it could have a profound impact on dollar strength that would take the dollar index lower, which would move gold off of these recent lows.
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Wishing you as always, good trading,
By Gary WagnerContributing tokitco.com
Follow @garyswagner
gary@thegoldforecast.comwww.thegoldforecast.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.