Gold slightly up in lackluster dealings
Gold prices are a bit firmer and silver prices a bit weaker near midday Tuesday. Gold is seeing some short covering in the futures market and some perceived bargain hunting in the cash market. Precious metals traders are awaiting the next fundamental even to provide a spark to trading action. That may come with some U.S. inflation data coming out later this week. April gold was last up $6.00 at $2,044.90. March silver was last down $0.046 at $22.48.
U.S. stock index futures are mixed near midday. It’s been a quieter trading week so far.
The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index slightly lower. Nymex crude oil prices are firmer and trading around $78.25 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note is presently fetching 4.291%.
The U.S. data point of the week is likely going to be Thursday morning’s personal income and outlays report for January, which includes the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation indexes. The PCE price index in January is seen up 2.6%, year-on-year, while the core PCE price index is seen up 2.9% in the same period. Those forecasts are just slightly higher than the readings seen in the December report.
Technically, April gold futures bears have the slight overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a three-month-old downtrend on the daily bar chart. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the February high of $2,083.20. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $2,000.00. First resistance is seen at last week’s high of $2,053.20 and then at $2,061.00. First support is seen at this week’s low of $2,034.10 and then at $2,025.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 4.5.
March silver futures bears have the overall near-term technical advantage. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at the February high of $23.56. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the February low of $21.975. First resistance is seen at $23.00 and then at $23.20. Next support is seen at $22.25 and then at $22.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 3.5.
March N.Y. copper closed up 5 points at 382.05 cents today. Prices closed nearer the session low today. The copper bulls have the slight overall near-term technical advantage. Copper bulls' next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at the January high of 394.70 cents. The next downside price objective for the
bears is closing prices below solid technical support at the February low of 365.50 cents. First resistance is seen at this week’s high of 387.15 cents and then at last week’s high of 390.85 cents. First support is seen at 380.00 cents and then at 375.00 cents. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.0.
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Jim Wyckoff
David