XAU/USD – Gold Slips on Excellent Jobless Claims

Gold has posted losses on Thursday, following a roller-coaster session on Wednesday. In the North American session, the metal is trading at $1266.73. On the release front, US unemployment claims dropped to 254 thousand, beating the estimate of 267 thousand. The strong reading has sent gold prices lower. On Friday, the US will release UoM Consumer Sentiment. The indicator is expected to edge lower to 87.4 points.

In a tumultuous Wednesday session, the dollar displayed a whipshaw movement, as gold prices surged 5 percent before surrendering most of these gains. The strong volatility was triggered by Donald Trump’s shocking election victory. Hillary Clinton was widely expected to cruise to the White House, with almost all pundits confidently predicting that Trump had no chance of winning. Trump’s victory, which has already been labeled the most stunning win in US election history, sent shock waves across global markets. As the dust begins to settle after the election, it is already apparent that global markets were poorly positioned heading into the vote, overconfident that voters would reject Trump and hand Clinton a victory.

The Trump election victory also shook up the odds of a December rate hike by the Federal Reserve. The odds dropped as low as 40 percent earlier in the day, but recovered and surged to 76 percent. Currently, the odds are back at 71 percent, the same level they were at just before the election. Despite this recent volatility, it’s looking quite positive for a rate hike, which would mark the first rate move by the Fed since last December. Meanwhile, the markets will be watching to see if Fed chair Janet Yellen can work with President-elect Trump. During the election campaign, Trump harshly criticized Yellen, saying she was “too political”. If Yellen were to choose to resign, the shock waves will be sure to affect the US dollar.

XAU/USD Fundamentals

Thursday (November 10)

• 8:30 Unemployment Claims. Estimate 267K. Actual 254K
• 9:15 US FOMC Member James Bullard Speaks
• 19:30 US Natural Gas Storage. Estimate 53B. Actual 54B
• 13:01 US 30-year Bond Auction
• 14:00 US Federal Budget Balance. Estimate -81.9B

Friday (November 11)

• 10:00 US Preliminary UoM Consumer Sentiment. Estimate 87.4

*All release times are EDT

*Key events are in bold

XAU/USD for Thursday, November 10, 2016

XAU/USD November 10 at 13:40 EDT

Open: 1276.09 High: 1292.32 Low: 1258.789 Close: 1266.73

XAU/USD Technical

• XAU/USD posted slight gain in the Asian session. The pair posted slight losses in the European session and continues to lose ground in North American trade
• 1245 is providing support
• There is resistance at 1279
• Current range: 1245 to 1279

Further levels in both directions:

• Below: 1245, 1223 and 1205
• Above: 1279, 1290, 1307 and 1331

OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio

XAU/USD ratio is almost unchanged in the Thursday session. Currently, long positions have a substantial majority (75%), indicative of trader bias towards XAU/USD moving higher.

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.