Gold Slips on Sharp US Employment Report

Gold has posted considerable gains in the Tuesday session. In North American trade, the spot price for an ounce of gold is $1275.19, down 0.53% on the day. On the release front, JOLT Job Openings edged up to 6.09 million, easily beating the estimate of 5.98 million. Later in the day, Fed Chair Janet Yellen will speak at an event in Washington.

President Donald Trump suffered a humiliating defeat with his failed health care proposal, and the President has now set his sights on tax reform. If Trump is successful, it would mark the first major tax reform since President Reagan was president. Trump wants new legislation in place before the end of the year, but that will be a tall order, as most Democrats have come out against the proposal and not all Republicans are on board. The bill would cut corporate taxes from 35% to 20%, but predictably, Democrat and Republican lawmakers are at odds as to whether the bill will lower taxes for the middle class. Expectations that Trump will cut taxes has been the catalyst for a stock market rally over the past year, and if the bill does become law, investor risk appetite could increase and send gold prices downwards.

The Federal Reserve was in the spotlight last week, as President Trump nominated Jerome Powell to replace Fed Chair Janet Yellen. The changing of the guard will take place in February, when Yellen’s 3-year term expires. Powell is expected to maintain the Fed’s cautious monetary policy, which entails small, incremental rate hikes. Coming on the heels of that announcement, 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

Tuesday (November 7)

• 10:00 US IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism. Estimate 51.2. Actual 53.6
• 10:00 US JOLTS Job Openings. Estimate 5.98M. Actual 6.09M
• 12:35 US FOMC Member Randal Quarles Speaks
• 14:30 US Federal  Reserve Chair Janet Yellen Speaks
• 15:00 US Consumer Credit. Estimate 18.4B

*All release times are GMT

*Key events are in bold

XAU/USD for Tuesday, November 7, 2017

XAU/USD November 7 at 12:40 EST

Open: 1281.87 High: 1282.08 Low: 1271.97 Close: 1275.19

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

XAU/USD ratio is showing little movement in the Tuesday session. Currently, long positions have a majority (70%), indicative of trader bias towards XAU/USD reversing directions and moving towards 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.