Wall St. Bearish, Main St. Bullish On Prices
(Kitco News)- WallStreet turned bearish on the short-term direction of gold prices while MainStreet remained slightly bullish, based on the Kitco News weekly survey.
ComexAugust gold traded on both sides of $1,300 an ounce this week, ultimatelysoftening on Friday in the wake of a stronger-than-forecast U.S. employmentreport. Nonfarm payrolls climbed 223,000 in May, the Labor Department said.
Fourteenmarket professionals took part in the survey. There were 10 votes, or 71%,calling for gold prices to fall. There were two votes each, or 14%, for gold torise or else trade sideways.
Meanwhile,578 voters responded in an online Main Street survey. A total of 296respondents, or 51%, predicted that gold prices would be higher in a week.Another 182 voters, or 31%, said gold will fall, while 100, or 17%, see asideways market.
Wall Street
Bullish
Bearish 
Neutral VS
Main Street
Bullish Bearish Neutral Forthe trading week now winding down, 61% of Wall Street voters and 54% of MainStreet voters predicted gold would rise. As of 11:02 a.m. EDT, Comex Augustgold was down 0.8% for the week so far to $1,299.10 an ounce.
“Goldis going to remain under pressure next week with the jobs number better thanexpected and the likelihood of a Fed rate hike coming,” said Bob Haberkorn,senior commodities broker with RJO Futures.
SeanLusk, director of commercial hedging of Walsh Trading, looks for gold to besteady to lower on a continued reaction to the strong U.S. jobs report.
“I’mnot looking for a huge sell-off, but I am looking for a pullback,” Lusk said.“The path of least resistance appears to be lower.”
CharlieNedoss, senior market strategist with LaSalle Futures Group, looks for more ofa retreat in gold prices. “Technically, they [gold futures] failed this week,he said, citing the market’s inability to get back above the 20-day movingaverage despite several attempts.
“Iremain bearish for gold,” said Kevin Grady, president of Phoenix Futures andOptions LLC. “We have been seeing ‘risk off’ the past few days. Yields havebeen increasing, which should keep a damper on the flat gold price. Inaddition, the strong nonfarm payroll numbers coupled with the 3.8% unemploymentrate will steady the Fed on their path of rate hikes this year. I believe thatwill ultimately keep a ceiling on gold prices.”
However,Grady added, there is still potential for a “tremendous amount of geopoliticalnews” that could mean volatility in prices.
“Violentprice spikes can occur at any moment,” Grady said. “We are anticipating activemarkets the next few months.”
PhilFlynn, senior market analyst with at Price Futures Group, looks for gold torise despite the strong jobs number.
“We’vebeen pretty range-bound on gold,” he said. “Obviously the strong, blockbusterjobs report put pressure on gold because it increases expectations the Fed willraise rates. But there are still geopolitical concerns around the world.”
Further,Flynn added, the ongoing issue of steel and aluminum tariffs is likely torekindle trade-war concerns and also underpin gold.
RichardBaker, editor of the Eureka Miner Report, was the other bull in this week’ssurvey. “I believe it likely that gold will again reclaim $1,300 territory aspolitical/geopolitical concerns create more lift than the combined drag of astrong dollar and a re-energized Fed that may raise rates more aggressively onupside jobs numbers,” Baker said.
Mark Leibovit, editor of the VR Gold Letter, said heis neutral for now, “waiting for confirmation of the summer low buypoint."
By Kitco NewsFor Kitco News
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