Gold and silver markets today traded slightly lower for the session as the market awaited the 1 pm FOMC minutes announcement. December gold settled 1288.9 down $4.90 while silver settled at 17.13 down 3.5 cents. The minutes from the latest FOMC meeting saw members generally agreeing that a quarter point December interest rate hike is in the cards. There was not any wording on inflation or the U.S. labor market that in my view is the most market sensitive. The U.S. stock and bond markets did not see significant price moves after the FOMC minutes’ release, either. U.S. stock indexes are at or near record highs this week. Japan’s Nikkei stock index hit a 21-year high Wednesday. While gold had seen some safe-haven demand earlier this week, amid geopolitical tensions that include the U.S.-North Korea stand-off and a region of Spain wanting to secede, the world stock markets are so far not exhibiting much risk aversion. The dollar though continues to grind lower finishing in the red for the fourth straight session. If the greenback’s downtrend remains intact, it should provide gold and silver a bid into the weekend and into next week.
My technical levels come in as follows for the remainder of this week. For December gold, near term support sits at 1285.6. A close under and the 100 day is next at 1279.4 and then the weekly pivot number at 1274.2. Resistance is up at 1296.4, then the 50 day at 1299.6. A close over the 50 day moving average and the next level to the upside is 1317.1. For December silver, a key level to watch sits at the 50 and 200 day moving averages at 17.14 and 17.135 respectively. This is where we closed today. A close below and the 100 day sits at 16.90. A close under 16.90 and 1668.5 is the next support level for the remainder of the week. Resistance is up at 17.26 and then up at 17.44.
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