Gold Calm in Light Holiday Trade

Gold is stable on Monday, as the metal is trading at a spot price of $1229.66. There are no US releases on Monday, as the markets are off for Presidents Day. Eurozone financial ministers will meet in Brussels, with the Greece bailout crisis on the top of the agenda.

The Greece bailout drama continues on Monday as Eurozone finance ministers try to bridge the gap between Greece and its creditors. The bailout agreement expires at the end of February, and the next bailout payment of about EUR 7 billion is on hold as Greece has declared it will not abide by the austerity steps which are required to receive these funds. Greece is looking for bridge financing until a new deal can be reached, but Germany and the troika have balked at rewriting the agreement. If some progress is made at Monday’s meeting, the euro could get a boost.

US releases wrapped up a disappointing week on a sour note, as the UoM Consumer Sentiment slipped for the first time in five months. The key indicator dropped to 93.6 points, down sharply from 98.2 in the previous report. On Thursday, retail sales and jobless numbers softened. Core Retail Sales declined by 0.9%, while Retail Sales dropped by 0.8%. Both indicators were well off their estimates of -0.4%. There was no relief from unemployment claims, which jumped to 304 thousand, compared to 284 thousand in the previous reading. The markets had expected a stronger reading of 282 thousand.

XAU/USD for Monday, February 16, 2015

XAU/USD February 16 at 12:50 GMT

XAU/USD 1229.66 H: 1235.01 L: 1222.91

XAU/USD Technical

• XAU/USD has showed little movement in the Asian session. The pair is unchanged in the European session.
• 1240 is a weak resistance line. 1255 is next.
• 1215 is an immediate support level.
• Current range: 1215 to 1240

Further levels in both directions:

• Below: 1215, 1200, 1175 and 1154
• Above: 1240, 1255, 1275, 1300 and 1322

OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio

XAU/USD ratio is pointing to gains in long positions on Monday. This is consistent with the pair’s movement, as gold has posted small gains. The ratio has a majority of long positions, indicating trader bias towards gold moving to higher ground.

XAU/USD Fundamentals

• All Day – Eurogroup Meetings.

*Key releases are highlighted in bold

*All release times are GMT

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.