Gold traded either side of unchanged last night in a range of $1248.55 - $1254.15. It made its high of $1254.15 during Asian time when the dollar pulled back (DX from 95.40 – 95.21) against a firmer yen (110.30 – 109.94, safe haven buying despite weaker Retail Sales) and early weakness in Asian equities (NIKKEI fell 1% before bouncing back to finish flat, the SCI was off 1%).
Gold retreated during early European time as the DX rallied to 95.54 (11-month high), taking out $1251 (yesterday’s low, 12/14/17 low) and options support at $1250 to reach $1248.50 – a fresh 6-month low.
However, as we’ve seen many times before, bargain hunting bids brought it quickly up to the $1250-51 area. Later during European hours, gold climbed to its high of $1254.15 as the DX fell to 95.09.
The greenback was pressured by a rebound in the euro ($1.1527 - $1.1598), which was boosted by stronger readings on German GfK Consumer Confidence, Eurozone Industrial and Services Confidence reports.
At 8:30 AM, a weaker 2nd revision to US Q1 GDP (2.0% vs. exp. 2.2%) along with a miss on Jobless Claims (227k vs. exp. 220k) tugged the DX back down to the overnight low at 95.09.
The US 10-year bond yield dipped to a 1-month low at 2.822%, and S&P futures turned negative (2693 off 12). Gold popped higher, but it was only able to barely breach its overnight high to reach $1254.30.
After opening weaker, US stocks turned higher by mid-morning (S&P +12 to 2712), with financials (down for 13 straight sessions) and telecoms outperforming.
Stocks were boosted by some dovish commentary from the Fed’s Bullard (concerned raising rates too fast), another strong rally in crude (WTI to $73.99, 3½...