Precious metals futures were ending the U.S. day session modestly lower but well up from their daily lows. After seeing selling pressure for most of this week, the selling finally subsided with gold closing at 1283.0 basis December futures while silver closed at 1699.5. For the week December gold has lost $21.60, while silver has lost 41.5 cents. With U.S. stock indexes at record highs this week, news out of Washington regarding future hopes for corporate tax cuts in the U.S. are helping to lift the U.S. stock market. World monies continue to flow into equity markets, which therefore limits investment demand for hard assets, such as the precious metals. This is one of the reasons for the sell-off this week. The dollar rose to a 1-1/2-week high before turning lower as traders digested more details on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax overhaul. The U.S. economy expanded at a modest to moderate pace in September through early October despite the impact of hurricanes on some regions, the Federal Reserve said in its latest snapshot of the U.S. economy released on Wednesday, but there were still few signs of an acceleration in inflation. The Fed meanwhile is widely expected to raise interest rates for the third time this year in December. China on Wednesday started its twice-a-decade Party Congress meetings, in which major economic and cultural planning initiatives are laid out for the next five years. Traders and investors will keep a close watch for any pronouncements coming out of those meetings.
Technically gold needs to hold the 100 day moving average at 1278.0. If that level doesn’t hold look for the market to test the weekly second support at 1267.0 and then the 200 day moving average at 1256.8. Resistance is at weekly pivot at 1295.7. A close above here and 1313.7 is next. Silver has initial support right below here at 1696.6 and below there the 100 day moving average at 1690.5. A close below here and the market could trade all the way down to 1652.3. Resistance is up at the 200 day moving average at 1717.5. Next level above there is the 50 day moving average up at 17.22.
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