Gold Calm Ahead of US Consumer Confidence Report

Gold is stable on Tuesday, with a spot price of $1186.99 per ounce in the European session. Today’s highlight is US CB Consumer Confidence. The markets are expecting a strong improvement in the December reading, with the estimate standing at 94.6 points.

Greece was in the spotlight on Monday, but this time it was a political crisis rather than trouble with the country’s bailout plan. Greece lawmakers failed to elect a new president for a third time, leaving Prime Minister no choice but to dissolve parliament. A  general election has now been scheduled for January 25. The country’s controversial bailout agreement promises to be a major election issue. The bailout agreement ends in February, and Greece owes EUR 260 billion to the troika (EU, ECB and the IMF). Negotiations between Greece and the troika are on hold until after the election. The bailout agreement forced Greece to implement stiff austerity measures which have proven deeply unpopular, and the Syriza Party, which leads in the polls, wants to cancel the bailout agreement and write off much of the country’s debt. Such a move could send shock waves across European markets, as other bailout countries such as Ireland would be tempted to follow Greece’s precedent and opt out of their financial obligations to the troika. The latest Greek saga will be closely watched by the markets as we move closer to Greek election day.

XAU/USD for Tuesday, December 30, 2014

XAU/USD December 30 at 11:45 GMT

XAU/USD 1186.99 H: 1190.80 L: 1181.80

XAU/USD Technical

• XAU/USD edged higher in the Asian session. The pair is unchanged in the European session.
• 1200 is an immediate resistance line. 1215 is next.
• 1175 is a weak support line. 1156 is next.
• Current range: 1175 to 1200

Further levels in both directions:

• Below: 1175, 1156, 1130 and 1111
• Above: 1200, 1215, 1240, 1255 and 1275

OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio

XAU/USD is pointing to gains in long positions. This is not consistent with the pair, which has shown very little movement on the day. The ratio has a majority of long positions, indicative of trader bias towards gold breaking above range and moving to higher ground.

XAU/USD Fundamentals

• 14:00 US S&P/CS Composite-20 HPI. Estimate 4.4%.
• 15:00 US CB Consumer Confidence. Estimate 94.6 points.

*Key releases are highlighted in bold

*All release times are GMT

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.