Gold Unchanged as Markets Eye US Job Openings Report

Gold prices are unchanged on Tuesday, as the metal is trading at a spot price of $1239.31. In the US, today’s highlight is JOLTS Job Openings.

Greece may be one of the smaller members of the Eurozone, but it continues to command the attention of world markets, as the bailout crisis continues.  After the new Greek government said it would not renew the EUR 240 billion bailout under the current terms, the ECB announced that it will no longer accept Greek government bonds as collateral for ECB loans as of February 11. Greece wants a new deal that removes the harsh austerity steps required under the bailout. However, Germany and Greece’s international creditors do not want to rewrite the bailout agreement. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Angel Gurria, chairman of the OECD, will meet on Tuesday to try and narrow the gap between the parties. On Wednesday, EU finance ministers meet in Brussels, with the Greek crisis on top of the agenda.

US releases ended the week with a superb US Nonfarm Payrolls report for January. The key employment indicator improved to 257 thousand in January, up from 252 thousand a month earlier. This easily beat the estimate of 236 thousand. The Federal Reserve has been clear that the employment numbers will have to be strong before a rate hike kicks in, so the strong NFP reading has reinforced expectations for an interest rate in mid-2015, which would be a boost for the US dollar. We’ll get a look at additional US employment data later on Tuesday, with the release of JOLTS Job Openings. The markets are expecting the indicator’s recent upward trend to continue, with an estimate of 5.05 million.

XAU/USD for Tuesday, February 10, 2015

XAU/USD February 10 at 10:00 GMT

XAU/USD 1238.32 H: 1245.97 L: 1239.31

XAU/USD Technical

• XAU/USD has shown little movement in the Asian and European sessions. The pair continues to test resistance at 1240.
• On the upside, 1240 remains under pressure. 1255 is stronger.
• 1215 is an immediate support level. 1200 is next.
• 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 short positions on Tuesday, reversing the direction seen a day earlier. This is consistent with the pair’s movement, as gold has posted small losses. The ratio has a majority of long positions, indicating trader bias towards gold moving to higher ground.

XAU/USD Fundamentals

• 13:20 US FOMC Member Jeffrey Lacker Speaks.
• 14:00 US NFIB Small Business Index. Estimate 101.3 points.
• 15:00 US JOLTS Openings. Estimate 5.03M.
• 15:00 US IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism. Estimate 51.4 points.
• 15:00 US Wholesale Inventories. Estimate 0.2%.

*Key releases are highlighted in bold

*All release times are GMT

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