Gold and Silver finished the week mixed with December gold gaining $6.30 for the week to close at 1297.9. Front month September silver gave back just 4 cents to close at 1704.5. Weekly highs and lows were both scored during Friday’s session as traders awaited Janet Yellen’s speech Friday morning. Without getting into specifics the speech was seen as dovish for the Dollar as investors are betting that any further tightening of monetary policy would be pushed back until 2018 at the earliest. Adding to that sentiment were comments made from another Fed President as Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan called for patience on raising interest rates any further but urged speed in reducing the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet. Both remarks buried the Dollar to a new low for the year while equities gave back some daily gains to close slightly higher in the Dow and S&P. Gold and Silver finished the week in a familiar position. December gold was trading just shy of 1300.0 per ounce while Silver settled just above the 17.00 level as both markets await new news before either extending this rally or retracing back to mid-August lows. Aside from the political chaos in Washington, watch the Dollar and equities for direction. I look for weekly metals resistances to be tested early in the week especially if energies rally due to prolonged refinery outages in the Gulf of Mexico due to Harvey. However any rally Monday and Tuesday will likely be met with selling as traders will take profits ahead of unemployment on Friday and month end on Thursday. Funds hold a sizable long in gold and are net long in silver as well.
We have some huge data points next week with the U.S. non farm payrolls release scheduled for next Friday, September 1. According to consensus forecasts, market watchers are projecting that at least 184,000 new jobs were added in August, after an increase of 209,000 in July. One of the most interesting data releases to watch next week will be the core PCE Price Index, which is carefully monitored by the Fed, as it is a less volatile measure of inflation because it excludes seasonal food and energy prices. The data is set for release on Thursday. Consumer confidence might also be relevant to gold prices next week and will be published on Tuesday. Other key releases include Wednesday’s Q2 GDP data and ADP Employment report, as well as Friday’s Manufacturing PMI numbers. Technical’s come in as follows for next weeks trade. For December gold support comes in first at 1285.6. A close under here and 1273.4 is the next level of weekly support. Resistance is up at 1305.7. A close over here and 1313.6 is next. For September silver, support is down first at 16.76. A close under and the market trades down to 16.50. Resistance is up at 17.23 and with a close above 17.44 the next resistance.
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