Gold softened overnight in a range of $1220.90 -$1225.65, fading the direction of the US dollar.
The yellow metal ticked up to its high of $1225.65 during early Asian time as the DX edged to its low of 96.73.
Later during European hours, however, gold slid to its low of $1220.90 - finding support ahead of $1218-21 (6 bottoms, 11/19, 11/20, 11/21, 11/23, 11/25, and 11/29 lows).
Gold was pressured as the dollar turned higher (DX to 97.02) - boosted by weakness in sterling ($1.2809 - $1.2746, ongoing Brexit concerns) and the euro ($1.14 - $1.1357, miss in German Retail Sales, Euro CPI).
Global equities were mixed with the NIKKEI up 0.4%, the SCI was +0.8% (despite misses on China’s PMIs), European shares were off from 0.4% to 0.7%, and S&P futures were off 0.5%. A pullback in oil (WTI from $51.40 - $50.33) weighed on stocks.
Some dovish comments from the Fed’s Kashkari (Fed should pause on rate hikes, rates close to neutral, hiking rates too forcefully could risk recession) and Williams (risk of inflation persistently too low, neutral rate of interest not far from current levels) along with upbeat comments from US Trade Rep Lighthizer (would be surprised if Trump-Xi meeting wasn’t a success) helped boost S&P futures (2740), and took the US 10-year bond yield down to 3.011%.
The DX, however failed to decline and rose to 97.10 as further weakness in sterling ($1.2734, growing uncertainty about Brexit amid fierce opposition in Parliament) and the euro ($1.1333) kept it firm. Gold – after rebounding to $1223 – slid to $1220.
After opening weaker, US stocks rallied into positive territory by mid-morning (S&P +9 to 2747), aided by a much stronger than expected reading on the Chicago PMI (66.4...