XAU/USD – Gold Steady, US Housing Report Sparkles

Gold has posted small gains on Monday, trading at a spot price of $1219.26 an ounce in the North American session. In economic news, US Core PCE Price Index and Personal Spending both posted small gains of 0.1 percent, within expectations. US Pending Home Sales posted a strong gain of 3.5 percent, crushing the estimate of 1.2%. On Tuesday, the US releases CB Consumer Confidence and Janet Yellen will deliver remarks at a meeting in New York.

The US economy expanded in the fourth quarter, as Final GDP posted a gain of 1.4 percent, supported by a climb in household spending, a key driver of economic growth. This figure beat the estimate of 1.0 percent, but was lower than the 2.0 percent gain in Q3. With the global slowdown taking a bite out of US exports, strong consumer spending has been the engine behind the economy’s growth. The economy grew at a pace of 2.0 percent in 2015, identical to the figure of 2014. What can we expect for the first quarter of 2016? The financial markets were in turmoil in the early weeks of the year, so GDP in Q1 will be hard-pressed to post similar numbers.

The manufacturing sector remains a sore spot in a generally strong US economy, as durables posted sharp declines in February. Core Durable Goods Orders posted a decline of 1.0%, well short of the forecast of a 0.2% drop. This marked the indicator’s third decline in four months. Durable Goods Orders was even worse, with a reading of -2.8%, slightly above the estimate of -3.0%. This slowdown is reflective of weak global demand, which has had a strong negative impact on the manufacturing sectors of developed economies worldwide, including the US.

A flurry of hawkish statements from Federal Reserve members last week resulted in broad gains for the US dollar. After a dovish policy statement from the Fed, a market hike did not seem likely until before June. The markets have quickly changed this assessment after some Fed officials called for an April hike. Fed chair Janet Yellen will make a speech in New York on Tuesday, and the dollar could jump if Yellen does not rule out an April move.

XAU/USD Fundamentals

Monday (March 28)

• 12:30 US Core PCE Price Index. Estimate 0.2%. Actual 0.1%
• 12:30 US Personal Spending. Estimate 0.2%.; Actual 0.1%
• 12:30 US Goods Trade Balance. Estimate -62.3B
• 12:30 US Personal Income. Estimate 0.1%. Actual 0.2%
• 14:00 US Pending Home Sales. Estimate 1.2%. Actual 3.5%

Upcoming Key Events

Tuesday (March 29)

12:15 US CB Consumer Confidence. Estimate 93.9 points

*Key releases are highlighted in bold

*All release times are DST

XAU/USD for Monday, March 28, 2016

XAU/USD March 28 at 11:30 DST

Open: 1213.56 Low: 1207.69 High: 1223.12 Close: 1219.26

XAU/USD Technical

• XAU/USD showed some choppiness in the Asian session and showed marginal movement in the European trade. This limited movement has continued in the North American session.
• There is resistance at 1232
• 1205 is providing support
• Current range: 1205 to 1232

Further levels in both directions:

• Below: 1205, 1191 and 1169
• Above: 1232, 1255, 1279 and 1303

OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio

XAU/USD ratio is showing little movement. Long positions have a strong majority (61%), indicative of trader bias towards gold 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.