Gold Starts Week With Strong Gains

Gold has posted considerable gains in the Monday session. In North American trade, the spot price for an ounce of gold is $1282.27, up 1.05% on the day. On the release front, there are no major events on the schedule. William Dudley, President of the New York Federal Reserve, announced his retirement. On Tuesday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen will speak at an event in Washington.

US numbers ended the week on a disappointing note, as payrolls and wage growth missed their forecasts. After a decline in September, a result of the hurricanes which battered the US, nonfarm payrolls rebounded sharply with a reading of 261 thousand. This was a respectable number, but still fell short of the forecast of 312 thousand. Wage growth also disappointed, slowing to 0.0%, short of the estimate of 0.2%. This marked the first time in 2017 that wage growth did not increase, underlining persistent weak inflation. Although Fed Chair Yellen and other Fed policymakers have expressed confidence that inflation levels will rise, this is still yet to occur, despite strong growth and a labor market at capacity.

The Federal Reserve remains in the news, after FOMC member William Dudley announced that he will retire in mid-2018. This move could have implications for monetary policy, depending on who will replace Dudley. A possible candidate is Kevin Warsh, who made the short list for the successor to Fed Chair Janet Yellen. Warsh is in favor of higher rates and favors less regulation of the banking sector, and if he would certainly support a more hawkish stance on monetary policy.

XAU/USD Fundamentals

Monday (November 6)

• 12:10 US FOMC Member William Dudley Speaks
• Tentative – US Loan Officer Survey

Tuesday (November 7)

• 14:30 US Federal Chair Janet Yellen Speaks

*All release times are GMT

*Key events are in bold

XAU/USD for Monday, November 6, 2017

XAU/USD November 6 at 12:20 EST

Open: 1268.90 High: 1280.84 Low: 1266.02 Close: 1282.27

XAU/USD Technical

• XAU/USD showed little movement in the Asian and European sessions. The pair has posted strong gains in North American trade
• 1260 is providing support
• 1285 is the next resistance line
• Current range: 1260 to 1285

Further levels in both directions:

• Below: 1260, 1240 and 1213
• Above: 1285, 1307, 1337 and 1367

OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio

In the Monday session, XAU/USD ratio is showing long positions with a majority (72%). This is indicative of trader bias towards XAU/USD continuing to move towards to higher ground.

This article is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.