Gold has showed strong gains on Thursday, as the spot price stands at $1218.95 on Thursday. In the US, it’s a busy day, highlighted by CPI and Unemployment Claims.
Janet Yellen testified before Congressional committees on Tuesday and Wednesday, saying that the Fed was “unlikely” to raise interest rates in the next few months, given current economic conditions. Her remarks seemed aimed at quelling rising speculation about a rate hike sometime in mid-2015, which has helped boost the US dollar’s performance against its major rivals. Yellen noted that the continuing economic growth should lead to unemployment continuing to fall. Recent US data has been mixed, but employment numbers have generally been solid.
Greece’s list of economic reforms was accepted by the country’s creditors on Tuesday, paving the way for an extension of the bailout for another four months. The Greek government has promised to continue with privatization plans and to meet budget targets. Still, the extension is a stop-gap measure and with sharp differences remaining between Greece and its creditors, the bailout crisis is far from over.
XAU/USD for Thursday, February 26, 2015
XAU/USD 1218.95 H: 1220.02 L: 1203.76
XAU/USD Technicals
| S3 | S2 | S1 | R1 | R2 | R3 |
| 1175 | 1200 | 1215 | 1240 | 1255 | 1275 |
- XAU/USD posted gains in the Asian session. The pair continues to move higher in European trade and has broken above resistance at 1215.
- 1215 has switched to a support role as gold as moved higher. 1200 is next.
- 1240 is an immediate resistance line.
- Current range: 1215 to 1240
Further levels in both directions:
- Below: 1215, 1200, 1175, 1154 and 1131
- Above: 1240, 1255 and 1275 and 1307.11
OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio
XAU/USD ratio is pointing to gains in long positions on Thursday, reversing the trend we saw a day earlier. This is consistent with the pair’s movement, as gold has posted gains. The ratio has a majority of long positions, indicating trader bias towards gold continuing to move to higher ground.
XAU/USD Fundamentals
- 13:30 US CPI. Estimate -0.6%.
- 13:30 US Core CPI. Estimate 0.1%.
- 13:30 US Unemployment Claims. Estimate 288K.
- 13:30 US Core Durable Goods Orders. Estimate 0.6%.
- 13:30 US Durable Goods Orders. Estimate 1.7%.
- 14:00 US HPI. Estimate 0.5%.
- 14:30 US Natural Gas Storage. Estimate -241B.
- 18:00 US FOMC Member Dennis Lockhart.