Gold bears are hibernating this week as the market sees record closing price

A record weekly close for gold is fueling significant bullish sentiment in the marketplace; however, some analysts have said that this breakout still needs to be tested, and investors should be careful about chasing prices.

Results of the Kitco News Weekly Gold Survey show that both Wall Street analysts and retail investors are cautiously optimistic about gold next week.

Gold prices managed to push above $2,050 an ounce Thursday after The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge showed a benign rise in consumer prices. After a slow start Friday, the precious metal started to attract some followthrough buying momentum following weaker-than-expected manufacturing and sentiment data.

April gold futures last traded at $2,095.20 an ounce, up 2% from last week. The precious metal’s best performance since late November has created a new record closing price.

While the rally has breathed new life into the precious metals market, some analysts have said that the price action remains sensitive as profit-taking and volatility could push prices back to within their well-defined channel.

Adam Button, chief currency strategist at Forexlive.com, said that Friday’s rally shows how much potential gold has; however, he added that he doesn’t see the rally as being backed by strong fundamentals.

“I just don’t see how a miss in ISM manufacturing could drive prices this high. I would be more convinced this rally was sustainable if it came after really disappointing employment numbers,” he said. “I think investors do need to pay attention because this shows how many investors are waiting for the dollar to crack before jumping into the market.”

James Stanley, senior market strategist at Forex.com, said that he is also not chasing the market, even as he anticipates higher prices in the near-term.

“I don’t think the pivot at the Fed is here yet. And while I have been very bullish on gold the past few weeks, even after the 2k test, spot [prices] trading over $2,075 is something I don’t want to chase here. That was the level that caught the high in 2020 and has remained a significant roadblock for bulls in the three and a half years since,” he said. “The NFP report is going to be a big deal for macro next week, but that’s not until Friday, so there could be some testing around $2100, but I’m not optimistic enough on drive beyond that level to chase the move while near that long-term resistance.”

This week, 14 analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey and not one is bearish on gold in the near term. The survey showed 11 analysts, or 79%, were bullish on gold. At the same time, three analysts, or 21%, were neutral on the precious metal.

Meanwhile, Main Street investor sentiment continues to improve steadily. This week, 175 votes were cast in Kitco’s online survey. In a slight improvement from last week, 77 retail investors,representing 44%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 43, or 25%, predicted it would be lower, while 55 respondents, or 31%, were neutral on the near-term prospects for the precious metal.

Marc Chandler, Managing Director at Bannockburn Global Forex, said $2,088 could represent a major resistance point for gold next week.

“Beyond that is the record high set on that spike in early December to $2135.60. I think we will see a need for the dollar’s resilience to buckle, and that may take greater confidence in a near-term Fed cut. Some Wall Street economists have begun giving up on a cut, and former Treasury Secretary Summers has cautioned that the next move may still be a hike,” he said.

Phillip Strieble, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures, said that while gold’s rally is impressive, he would like to see gold hold higher support to confirm that this isn’t another bull trap.

Some analysts have said that while gold is seeing an impressive rally, it faces significant resistance at $2,100 an ounce.

Sean Lusk, co-director of commercial hedging at Walsh Trading, said that he sees potential for gold to go higher but remains hesitant to chase the market.

“We have been consolidating for a while now, so this could have some teeth to it,” he said.

Lusk added that investors could look at options to get some exposure to gold and take advantage of the market's momentum. He added that a medium-term play would be to buy $2,100 August gold calls and sell $2,275 February gold puts.

“A modest 5% rally takes the market to $2,175,” he said. “Should August 2100 call trade $70 in the money, we could collect $5K to $6K per spread upon exit, in my opinion.”

Kitco Media

Neils Christensen

Time to Buy Gold and Silver

David

Gold market sees new record closing price, but the major test is next week

With gold prices pushing to within striking distance of $2,100 an ounce, seeing a new record settlement Friday, the market is setting itself up for a major week ahead, one filled with significant macroeconomic risks.

April gold futures settled Friday at $2,095.70 an ounce, a record close for the precious metal and up more than 2% from last week. The rally started Thursday as prices pushed above initial resistance above $2,050 an ounce after the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge showed a benign rise in consumer prices.

The gold market is seeing its best weekly gains since November

Meanwhile, silver managed to end the week with a 1% gain, with prices back above $23 an ounce. Although silver continues to underperform gold, some analysts have said it remains an attractive value play in a bull market.

Despite a slow start, disappointing economic data on Friday created some weakness in the U.S. dollar, giving gold and silver room to move quickly to the upside.

“Thursday's and Friday's gains reaffirm gold's ability to rise above its 50-day moving average, which it failed to do a month ago,” said Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at FxPro.

While gold has managed to break above resistance at $2,050, Kuptsikevich added that the next major resistance level to watch is $2,088. At the same time, the market can see significant upside if the momentum lasts.

“There is an even longer-term scenario. The pullback from the beginning of the year to mid-February is a classic Fibonacci retracement of 61.8% of the first growth impulse from the October lows. The realization of this scenario will be the advance to $2255,” he said.

However, not all analysts are convinced that gold is headed higher, even as it ends the week with significant momentum. In a note Thursday, Nicky Shiels, head of metals strategy at MKS PAMP, noted that gold’s outside move could be the result of its months-long consolidation. She said that momentum can push gold prices higher, but the fundamental picture remains the same, for now.

“With positioning in gold and silver running neutral & short, respectively, technically compressed price action and overall sentiment in precious metals burnt out, it really was a recipe for unexplained outsized moves. Was the PCE a game-changer? No, and not enough data to declare disinflation is about to end, and the Fed may just never cut,” she said in her note. “Can technical rallies extend? Sure. But this is not a catalyst to rope in fresh investor interest, and physical alone doesn’t chase, so it’ll come down to paper shorts and cues provided by macro. Overall, Gold remains bid-to-higher.”

Market analysts at CPM Group are also not optimistic that the gold market can hold Friday’s gains as it is caught in a well-defined trading pattern.

“Gold prices have sold off most every time they have tested resistance levels, and as prices test strong support levels, investors step back into the market, initiating new longs once more. This has kept gold prices in a wide range, mostly above $2,000,” the analysts said in a note late Friday.

“Gold prices are now testing $2,100, having firmly broken above $2,050 yesterday. The market appears to be looking for reasons to go long gold, and taking profits as technical resistance levels are tested,” the analysts added. “It is unclear if prices will continue to climb in the near term, but they already have made strong gains, suggesting the potential for a short-term pullback on profit taking. A retrenchment in prices could push gold back toward $2,075, which could potentially present a buying opportunity should the upward momentum continue.”

Some analysts have noted that gold could face a significant test next week with the release of February’s nonfarm payrolls report. At the same time, markets will be anxious to hear what Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will say in his two days of testimony before Congress.

Adam Button, chief currency strategist at Forexlive.com, said that he will probably be paying more attention to labor market data next week as that could have more impact on the U.S. dollar.

He said weak labor market data could impact the U.S. dollar more than Powell’s comments.

“We basically know what Powell is going to say: interest rates will be coming down, but not anytime soon,” he said. “He will probably also say that the Federal Reserve will continue to monitor incoming data. Weak job growth could sustain gold’s rally.”

It’s not just U.S. economic data that could impact the U.S. dollar. The European Central Bank will meet to decide its monetary policy next week and a hawkish stance could support the euro in the near term.

Commodity analysts at Brown Brothers Harriman said they expect the ECB to strike a cautious tone next week as Europe’s latest inflation data came in hotter than expected.

Economic data to watch next week:

Tuesday: ISM services PMI

Wednesday: ADP employment data, Bank of Canada monetary policy decision, Powell’s testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, JOLTS job openings

Thursday; European Central Bank monetary policy meeting, weekly jobless claims; Powell’s testimony before Senate Banking Committee

Friday: Nonfarm payrolls report
 

Kitco Media

Neils Christensen

Time to Buy Gold and Silver

David

The Fed to intervene in a collapse scenario, what it means for the stock market & recession calls – Alex Krüger

Those calling for a recession and a market collapse are wrong because the Federal Reserve wants to intervene before that happens, according to Alex Krüger, Economist and Partner at Asgard Markets.

The 'Fed put' is back, Krüger told Michelle Makori, Lead Anchor and Editor-in-Chief at Kitco News. The term ‘Fed put,’ a play on the option term ‘put,’ is the market belief that the Fed would step in and implement policies to limit the stock market's decline beyond a certain level.

"The 'Fed put' was removed from the market in early 2022 when they made it clear that their focus is now on inflation, sending stocks crashing," Krüger said. "Things changed in December when the Fed stated that the risks are balanced to both the upside and downside, and they are focused on jobs just as much as they are on interest rates."

That means that the Fed will intervene if things start to collapse. This was already seen in 2023 during the failures of regional banks, including Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank.

In response to the banking crisis, the Fed quickly introduced the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) in March 2023, an emergency lending program that allows banks to take on loans of up to one year to boost liquidity.

During last year's banking crisis, there was one surprising asset winner. For insights, watch the video above. The same asset can again benefit if the Fed intervenes to prop up the economy.

Because of the 'Fed put,' the most likely outcome is a soft landing, Krüger pointed out, advising to ignore the noise and focus on the bigger picture when trading.

"A very large percentage of market participants are focused on how expensive things are, how AI is a bubble, how the yield curve inversion has to lead to a major recession and a major crash. My response is that it's noise. And the bigger picture is that we should be focusing on interest rates going down, inflation going down, and liquidity going up," he said.

For insights on how much more upside there is in the stock market, watch the video above.

However, there are several scenarios that could derail this outlook. "First of all, black swans … armed conflict in the Korean peninsula or China-Taiwan, or conflict escalating between Russia and Ukraine," Krüger said.

Another scenario that could derail the soft landing outlook is an acceleration in inflation. "The outlook should change because the Fed's outlook will change if it happens," he noted.

Take on crypto: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Worldcoin

In the crypto space, Krüger pays close attention to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. To get his top crypto picks for 2024, watch the video above.

The new spot Bitcoin ETFs are attracting new types of investors, pushing prices towards new all-time highs.

BlackRock's spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund IBIT alone saw $1.357 billion in trading volume Tuesday, breaking Monday's record of $1.3 billion, according to Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

Krüger views the introduction of spot Bitcoin ETFs as a way towards mainstream adoption that will eventually include central banks holding Bitcoin alongside gold as a reserve asset.

"At the moment, Bitcoin is an extremely volatile asset that doesn't belong in the reserves of a central bank, but eventually, that volatility will disappear," he said. "We will see new market participants in the Bitcoin options market. Eventually, central banks will adopt Bitcoin as a reserve asset."

 

To get insights on how that would impact Bitcoin prices and which central banks will likely push the needle the most, watch the video above.

 

The next big driver for crypto investors is a potential approval of a spot Ethereum ETF. On timing and chances of that happening this year, watch the video above.

 

To get Krüger updated price forecasts for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Worldcoin, and his other top crypto picks, watch the video above.

Kitco Media

Anna Golubova

Anna Golubova is the Producer for Kitco News. With more than ten years of experience in media, she has covered a range of topics, focusing on economy and politics. Anna began to exclusively cover economic news in 2013, attending media lockups at the Bank of Canada and Statistics Canada to report on a range of key macro economic events, including interest rate announcements, GDP, unemployment, and retail. She holds a Master of Arts in International Relations from NPSIA, Carleton and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and History from the University of Ottawa.

Kitco Media

Michelle Makori

Time to Buy Gold and Silver

David