Oil edges higher ahead of OPEC, gold eyes nonfarm payrolls

Oil edges higher ahead of OPEC+ meeting this weekend

Oil prices are edging higher into the end of the week, perhaps a sign of nerves appearing before the OPEC+ meeting this weekend. While there seems to be a widely held view that the group won’t announce any further cuts, it’s worth noting that the same was true at the last meeting and then the group announced cuts of roughly another million barrels.

And while there have been comments to suggest the alliance isn’t likely to cut output this weekend, it’s hard to ignore the warnings from the Saudi energy minister to “watch out”, threatening more “ouching” for short speculators. This may be playing into the mind of traders fearing another surge on the open next week.

Will the jobs report push gold back above $2,000?

Gold has had a few good days this week, buoyed by an easing of yields which may be related to the debt ceiling deal but I expect it probably has more to do with the Fed commentary on the merits of pausing in June, alongside much better eurozone inflation data.

Whether that will be enough to see it break back above the $2,000 psychological barrier will probably depend on how much of a helping hand it gets from the jobs data shortly. A weak report could push yields lower and give gold another boost while another hot set of numbers could bring an abrupt end to this recovery rally.

For a look at all of today’s economic events, check out our economic calendar: www.marketpulse.com/economic-events/

Content 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 Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.