Gold price, US Dollar Talking Points:
- Markets are returning from the Good Friday and Easter holidays, and two of the more interesting themes from last week remain in-force. Gold price are pushing down to fresh 2019 lows, continuing last week’s move. Meanwhile, the US Dollar is posturing near monthly highs around the 97.50 level.
- This week’s economic calendar is rather shallow, with the highlights being released tomorrow with the Bank of Canada and Bank of Japan rate decisions. A bigger driver around US markets at the moment is the continued release of quarterly earnings reports, with large names like Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Starbucks set to report.
- DailyFX Forecasts are published on a variety of currencies such as the US Dollar or the Euro and are available from the DailyFX Trading Guides page. If you’re looking to improve your trading approach, check out Traits of Successful Traders. And if you’re looking for an introductory primer to the Forex market, check out our New to FX Guide.
Do you want to see how retail traders are currently trading Gold prices? Check out our IG Client Sentiment Indicator.
Gold Price Sets Fresh Low, US Dollar Near Highs
It’s a slow pace back from the Easter holiday as markets around the world have re-opened for business. This week’s economic calendar is relatively shallow, with the highlights being rate decisions out of Canada tomorrow and the Bank of Japan tomorrow night/Thursday morning. Many of the themes from last week remain at bay, as the US Dollar holds resistance near monthly highs, with buyers yet to provoke a push beyond the 97.50 level. Gold prices, on the other hand, are breaking down to fresh 2019 lows.
Gold Price Four-Hour Chart
Chart prepared by James Stanley
Last week saw Gold prices push down to 1270.70, at which point sellers pulled back before a re-test of the psychological level at 1270. This allowed for price action to drift higher as sellers squared up positions ahead of last week’s close. That drift-higher continued in the early-portion of this week, with Gold prices making a move back towards the 1280.00 level, and this is around the area for potential resistance looked at last week. Another bearish push followed, and at this point, prices are testing below 1270 for the first time this year. The big question at this point is whether this theme has more continuation potential; or whether a reversal might follow as bears shy away from fresh lows.
Gold Price Two-Hour Chart
Chart prepared by James Stanley
US Dollar Holds Resistance Near Monthly Highs- Can Bulls Push Through?
The latter-portion of last week saw a gasp of US Dollar strength after the currency had a generally slugging start to the month of April. This comes amidst a longer-term bullish backdrop in the US Dollar, as an ascending wedge formation populated the market ahead of the Q2 open. This is a type of formation that will often be approached with a bullish bias; but the downside is one of timing as there’s little denotation as to when the breakout might actually take place.
US Dollar Daily Price Chart
Chart prepared by James Stanley
The US Dollar last tested resistance in this formation in early-March, just after the ECB rate decision that saw the bank announce a fresh round of TLTRO’s. But, just a day after that ECB meeting, an abysmal NFP report was released and prices in USD soon tumbled-lower; eventually testing the support side of the formation less than two weeks later around the March FOMC rate decision.
But since then – it’s been largely a bullish picture, as buyers pushed prices back to 97.50, which is still helping to hold the highs in USD. Last week’s topside push saw prices make a strong move towards this level; but buyers pulled back, begging the question as to whether the US Dollar’s bullish breakout will soon show, or whether we’ll see another pullback with continued posturing until some type of driver shows up that can compel a bullish breakout to fresh yearly highs.
US Dollar Four-Hour Price Chart
Chart prepared by James Stanley
To read more:
Are you looking for longer-term analysis on the U.S. Dollar? Our DailyFX Forecasts for Q2 have a section for each major currency, and we also offer a plethora of resources on USD-pairs such as EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD. Traders can also stay up with near-term positioning via our IG Client Sentiment Indicator.
Forex Trading Resources
DailyFX offers an abundance of tools, indicators and resources to help traders. For those looking for trading ideas, our IG Client Sentiment shows the positioning of retail traders with actual live trades and positions. Our trading guides bring our DailyFX Quarterly Forecasts and our Top Trading Opportunities; and our real-time news feed has intra-day interactions from the DailyFX team. And if you’re looking for real-time analysis, our DailyFX Webinars offer numerous sessions each week in which you can see how and why we’re looking at what we’re looking at.
If you’re looking for educational information, our New to FX guide is there to help new(er) traders while our Traits of Successful Traders research is built to help sharpen the skill set by focusing on risk and trade management.
--- Written by James Stanley, Strategist for DailyFX.com
Contact and follow James on Twitter: @JStanleyFX
