Gold steady around $1,325, markets unexciting ahead of Fed meeting

The US gold futures market remained becalmed on Thursday morning – investors seem content to wait on the sidelines until the Federal Reserve meets and releases its latest monetary statement.

Gold for December settlement on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange edged down 50 cents or less than 0.1 percent to $1,325.60 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $1,321.80 to $1,332.50.

“Gold prices are stuck sideways; we await a breakout of the $1,300-1,350 range,” FastMarkets head of research William Adams said. “We feel prices will have to push up into new high ground to avoid further stale long liquidation and possibly short-selling.”

“Our big-picture outlook remains bullish but more profit-taking could easily be triggered if the price action disappoints, as it may be starting to do,” he added.

With the presidential election approaching, the Fed committee has only three remaining dates to lift interest rates – chairwoman Janet Yellen has expressed a desire to increase rates at least once in 2016 – but fewer than half of of market participants expect one rate rise in 2016 and barely any foresee it moving this month.

“The gold market is on the defensive. It has remained under pressure despite the clear and marked reduction in market expectations of a US rate hike later this month. All other things being equal, a decline in rate hike expectations should be bullish for gold,” HSBC analyst James Steel said.

Even a jam-packed data day was not enough to draw investors back to the fold. Weekly unemployment claims for September 1-8 in at 260,000 were just below the forecast 262,000 and, more importantly, the psychological 300,000 mark.

The US PPI in August was unchanged; a 0.1-percent gain from the previous month has been expected. The core PPI – excluding food and energy costs – was in line at 0.1 percent.

Retail sales and core retail sales in August both undershot at -0.3 percent and -0.1 percent respectively. The Empire State manufacturing stood at -2.0 missed the expected -0.9 but the Philly Fed manufacturing index at 12.8 beat the predicted 1.1.

Lastly, the current account balance in June was in line with consensus at -$120 billion. Later, the capacity utilization rate, industrial production, business inventories and natural gas storage figures are slated for release.

Turning to European markets, Germany’s DAX gained 0.1 percent while France’s CAC-40 slipped 0.2 percent. The dollar softened by 0.2 percent to 1.1274 against the euro.

As for other precious metals, Comex silver for December settlement gained 13.9 cents or 0.7 percent to $19.205 per ounce. Trade has ranged from $18.950 to $19.280.

Platinum for October delivery edged up $1.10 or 0.1 percent to $1,042.0 per ounce while the most active palladium contract stood at $662.20, up $5.70.

(Editing by Mark Shaw)

The post Gold steady around $1,325, markets unexciting ahead of Fed meeting appeared first on The Bullion Desk.

from The Bullion Desk http://ift.tt/2cAoFWx
via IFTTT