Gold settled down Friday, ending the week in the red with the weekly low occurring today, touching levels not seen since the first day of March. A few announcements came out today that showed strength in the economy resulting in weakness for the yellow metal. Consumer sentiment hit a 14 year high last seen in March 2004. Job openings hit an all time high while the people quitting jobs remains unchanged but still at an all time high. The quit rate typically signifies employees feel comfortable leaving their job for another. Industrial production rose in February, handily beating expectations, as manufacturing, construction and energy led the way. These strong economic numbers gave the markets the impression that there is a high probability that the Fed will raise rates in their meeting on the 21st next week. In turn, Gold lost its luster this week as money keeps pouring into the equity markets, a record amount over the past week since Bank of America Merrill Lynch began tracking it in 2002.
The other metals are similarly down at settlement except for Palladium with a small gain. May silver futures settled down to $16.272 a troy ounce, April platinum futures dropped to $950.20 a troy ounce, May copper futures settled down to $3.1075 per pound, and June Palladium futures rose to $988.55 a troy ounce.
For April gold, we see near term resistance at $1,318.23 with longer term resistance at $1,324.17. With near term support at $1,309.93, and showing longer term support at $1,307.57.
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Bullion on Bullion.
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Michael Bullion, CAIA
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RISK DISCLOSURE: THERE IS A SUBSTANTIAL RISK OF LOSS IN FUTURES AND OPTIONS TRADING. THIS REPORT IS A SOLICITATION FOR ENTERING A DERIVATIVES TRANSACTION AND ALL TRANSACTIONS INCLUDE A SUBSTANTIAL RISK OF LOSS. THE USE OF A STOP-LOSS ORDER MAY NOT NECESSARILY LIMIT YOUR LOSS TO THE INTENDED AMOUNT. WHILE CURRENT EVENTS, MARKET ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SEASONAL FACTORS ARE TYPICALLY BUILT INTO FUTURES PRICES, A MOVEMENT IN THE CASH MARKET WOULD NOT NECESSARILY MOVE IN TANDEM WITH THE RELATED FUTURES AND OPTIONS CONTRACTS.