Gold Slightly Up; Gains Limited By Higher U.S. Equities

(Kitco News) - Gold prices areslightly higher in early-afternoon U.S. trading Thursday. Some mild safe-havenbuying is being offset by solid gains in U.S. stock indexes at midday. However,nobody knows what late-session twists and turns the stock market will make. December gold futures were last up $1.40 an ounce at $1,232.40. December Comex silver was last down $0.041 at $14.635 an ounce.

Ahigher U.S. dollar index that is at a nine-week high and near the high for theyear is also working against the precious metals bulls on this day.

Globalstock markets were mixed to lower Thursday, following the strong losses in U.S.stock indexes Wednesday that briefly put those indexes into negative territoryfor this year. Asian stock markets were mostly lower overnight. China’s andSouth Korea’s stock markets are now in bear market territory, having droppedover 20% from their bull market highs.

Thereare still near-term technical clues the U.S. stock indexes have put innear-term market tops, if not major tops. If that’s indeed the case, it’s abullish element for hard assets like the precious metals.

Tradersand investor can point to no one element that is spooking the world marketplace at present. There are geopolitical issues that include the U.S.-Chinatrade war, U.S.-Saudi Arabia tensions over the murdered Saudi journalist, andItaly’s defiance over forming its budget to meet European Union rules. Andthere is creeping inflation in the world economies at present. Most don’t deemthe inflation rates problematic, yet. However, there is a new generation ofworldwide investors that have ostensibly never experienced inflation. So a 3%inflation rate could be spooking them.

TheU.S. economic highlight this week will be the first estimate of third-quarterGDP due out Friday morning. GDP is seen up 3.4% in the third quarter, on anannual basis.

Technically,the gold bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. Prices this weeksaw a bullish upside “breakout” from a sideways and choppy trading range. Goldbulls' next upside near-term price breakout objective is to produce a close inDecember futures above solid technical resistance at $1,275.00. Bears' nextnear-term downside price breakout objective is pushing prices below solidtechnical support at $1,220.00. First resistance is seen at this week’s high of$1,243.00 and then at $1,250.00. First support is seen at $1,225.00 and then at$1,220.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.0

Thesilver bears have the overall near-term technical advantage. However, the bullsare working on restarting a price uptrend on the daily chart. Silver bulls'next upside price breakout objective is closing prices above solid technicalresistance at $15.00 an ounce. The next downside price breakout objective forthe bears is closing December prices below solid support at the September lowof $13.965. First resistance is seen at last week’s high of $14.88 and then atthe October high of $14.95. Next support is seen at this week’s low of $14.54and then at last week’s low of $14.47. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 4.0.

DecemberN.Y. copper closed down 15 points at 275.60 cents today. Prices closed nearerthe session high today. The copper bears have the overall near-term technicaladvantage. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closingprices above solid technical resistance at the September high of 287.10 cents.The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solidtechnical support at the August low of 257.45 cents. First resistance is seenat today’s high of 277.35 cents and then at 280.00 cents. First support is seenat the October low of 271.30 cents and then at of 270.00 cents. Wyckoff'sMarket Rating: 3.0.

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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