Gold kicks off week with gains after lackluster week

Gold has started the week with considerable gains. In North American trade, the spot price for one ounce of gold is $1297.55, up 0.45% on the day. It’s a quiet day on the fundamental front, with just one event. Factory orders declined 0.5%, after two straight gains. This matched the estimate. On Tuesday, the U.S. releases JOLTS Job Openings.

Gold prices showed limited movement last week, as investors remain cautious. After a grueling trade war between the U.S. and China, the sides are moving closer to a trade agreement. There are reports that the negotiators have wrapped up 90% of the issues, with the enforcement mechanism and removal of tariffs the major stumbling blocks. Still, nothing has been finalized, so investors have not dumped gold in favor of riskier assets. The turmoil over Britain’s departure from the EU has also kept risk appetite in check, as investors wait on the sidelines.

On Friday, gold lost ground on mixed U.S. job numbers, but recovered before the end of the week. Nonfarm payrolls came in at 196 thousand, easily beating the estimate of 172 thousand in March. Still, this release is significantly lower than the December and January releases, both of which were above the 300-thousand level. Wage growth dipped to 0.1%, shy of the estimate of 0.3%.

Markets hit pause as central banks and Brexit risks loom

XAU/USD Fundamentals

Monday (April 8)

• 10:00 US Factory Orders. Estimate -0.5%. Actual -0.5%

Tuesday (April 9)

• 10:00 US JOLTS Job Openings. Estimate 7.54M

*All release times are DST

*Key events are in bold

XAU/USD for Thursday, April 8, 2019

XAU/USD April 8 at 12:05 DST

Open: 1291.70 High: 1303.75 Low: 1291.53 Close: 1297.55

XAU/USD Technical

XAU/USD posted strong gains in the Asian session and added further gains in the European session. The pair started the North American session with gains but then retracted

• 1284 is providing support
• 1306 is the next resistance line
• Current range: 1284 to 1306
  

Further levels in both directions:

• Below: 1284, 1261 and 1243
• Above: 1306, 1326, 1344 and 1365

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