Gold Trading Sideways, US Retail Sales Next

After a mostly quiet week, gold has continued the trend in the Monday session. In North American trade, the spot price for an ounce of gold is $1319.86, up 0.10% on the day. It’s a very quiet day on the fundamentals front, with no economic indicators on the schedule. On Tuesday, the focus will be on consumers spending, with the release of retail sales and core retail sales.

With the U.S economy continuing to perform well in 2018, it comes as no surprise that the U.S consumer is feeling very optimistic. On Friday, the UoM Consumer Sentiment improved to 98.8 in April, beating the estimate of 98.4 points. The U.S labor market is at near or full employment, which has resulted in a slowdown in job growth due to a shortage of skilled workers. This was underscored last week, as JOLTS Job Openings climbed to a record 6.6 million. At the same time, inflation levels remain low, as the Federal Reserve target of 2 percent remains elusive. CPI rebounded with a gain of 0.2%, but this fell short of the estimate of 0.3%. Core CPI edged lower to 0.1%, shy of the forecast of 0.2%. Inflation levels will be an important factor for the Fed in its monetary policy projection, which remains at two more hikes in 2018. The odds of a rate hike at the June hike stands close to 100%.

XAU/USD Fundamentals

Monday (May 14)

• 2:45 US FOMC Member Loretta Mester Speaks

Tuesday (May 15)

• 8:30 US Core Retail Sales. Estimate 0.5%
• 8:30 US Retail Sales. Estimate 0.4%
• 8:30 US Empire State Manufacturing Index. Estimate 15.1

*All release times are DST

*Key events are in bold

XAU/USD for Monday, May 14, 2018

XAU/USD May 14 at 12:15 DST

Open: 1318.57 High: 1322.43 Low: 1317.98 Close: 1319.86

XAU/USD Technical

• XAU/USD edged lower in the Asian session but then recovered. The pair has shown limited movement in the In European and North American sessions
• 1307 was tested earlier in support
• 1337 is the next resistance line
• Current range: 1307 to 1337

Further levels in both directions:

• Below: 1307, 1285, 1260 and 1236
• Above: 1337, 1375 and 1416

OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio

In the Monday session, XAU/USD ratio is showing long positions with a majority (69%). This is indicative of trader bias towards XAU/USD continuing to move upwards.  

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.