Gold futures settled lower, to continue falling to the fourth session in a row. However, with the dollar weakening, the downside for gold was marginal. Since the start of this week’s trading, the price of gold has been moving in narrow ranges with a downward tendency between the level of $1847 an ounce and the level of $1824 an ounce, and it is settling around the $1835 level at the time of writing the analysis.

Investors digested Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. In prepared remarks, Powell indicated that the Fed plans to continue moving quickly to combat inflation but said the US economy is strong enough to handle tighter monetary policy. However, Powell later admitted that achieving a “soft landing” would be “very difficult” in part due to factors beyond the Fed’s control and noted that a recession is “a sure possibility”.

Powell added that the pace of interest rate hikes in the future will depend on incoming data and the evolving outlook for the economy and suggested that the Fed would need to see “convincing evidence” that inflation is slowing before it begins to scale back its monetary tightening plans. The Fed chief added that the central bank would strive “to avoid adding uncertainty in what is already a very difficult and uncertain time.”

Technical analysis of the gold price XAU/USD:

According to the recent performance of the gold price, technical indicators are moving in relatively neutral ranges. Narrow trading in limited ranges warns that there is a strong movement in one of the two directions to come, but there is anticipation for what will lead to that. I still prefer to buy XAU/USD gold from every bearish level, despite the strong demand of global central banks to tighten their monetary policy, which is negative for the gold market. It finds momentum from other factors, most notably global geopolitical tensions led by the Russian / Ukrainian war, as well as fears of an economic recession world in the coming period. Gold is a traditional safe haven in those times.

The closest buying levels for gold at the moment are 1820, 1805 and 1785 dollars, respectively. On the other hand, the bulls may find enough momentum to launch further higher if the XAU/USD gold price breaches the resistance level of $1855 an ounce again.

We often recommend buying gold from every descending level with quick deals and taking advantage of the continuous rebounds every time the price of gold declines.

Gold futures ended the tumultuous trading week lower as the brunt of the financial market sell-off came on the yellow metal. Gold prices not only closed the session lower, but also recorded a weekly decline. This was mostly driven by the appreciation of the US dollar as investors flocked to the safe-haven traditional assets. With the Federal Reserve raising US interest rates, it will be even more difficult for gold.

Accordingly, the price of gold fell to the support level of 1815 dollars per ounce and recovered during the Friday trading session to the level of 1853 dollars per ounce. This was before closing the week’s trading around the level of 1840 dollars per ounce, and this week’s trading started stable around the level of 1838 dollars per ounce. All in all, gold prices posted a weekly loss of about 2%, shrinking their annual gains to less than 1%. Over the past 12 months, gold is still up more than 4%.

As for the price of silver, the sister commodity to gold, it also ended Friday’s trading session lower as it could not stay above the $22 level. Silver futures fell to $21.63 an ounce. The white metal recorded a weekly loss of 1.35%, which increased its decline since the start of the year 2022 to date by more than 7%. Over the past 12 months, silver prices have fallen by more than 16%.

The main reason for gold’s decline last week was the US dollar, which continued its strong performance in 2022. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of major currencies, rose to 104.65, from its opening around 103.63. The index posted a modest weekly gain of 0.48%, extending its YTD hike beyond 9%.

In general, a stronger profit is bad for dollar-priced commodities because it makes them more expensive to buy for foreign investors.

Another factor affecting the gold market. The Treasury market was mostly in the red, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield down 7.4 basis points to 3.231%. The one-year bond yield slipped to 2.86%, while the 30-year yield fell 7.9 basis points to 3.282%.

The gold market is usually sensitive to a price appreciation environment because it increases the opportunity cost of holding bullion that is not yielding.

All in all, it has been a reckless week in both gold and global financial markets. From weak economic data to a stronger dollar to the Federal Reserve getting bolder to fight inflation, gold has been trying to absorb everything that has happened. This may explain why gold prices have fluctuated throughout the trading week. Market experts also believe that there may be a renewed demand for gold amid fears of a recession. The dreaded “r” has become the primary scenario for many on Wall Street as the US central bank attempts to tame inflation through a series of interest rate increases.

Some recent economic data painted a bleak picture for the US economy. Industrial production rose by only 0.2% while industrial output decreased by 0.3%. Earlier this week, US retail sales also fell 0.2%, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased, and housing demand waned.

As for other metals markets, copper futures fell to $4.0115 a pound. Platinum futures fell to $929.20 an ounce. Palladium futures fell to $1,795.50 an ounce.

According to gold technical analysis: The price of gold is trying to remain in the neutral zone with a relatively upward tendency, as is the performance on the daily chart below. I have often recommended buying gold from every descending level with quick deals and taking advantage of the continuous rebounds every time the price of gold declines. I still see that the gold market receives momentum from the continuation of global geopolitical tensions and the world’s fears of economic stagnation in light of the global central banks’ strong tendency towards raising Interest rates to contain record inflation.

Accordingly, the bulls may return to control the direction of gold if it moves towards the resistance levels of 1865 and 1878 dollars, respectively. There will be no change to a strong bearish trend without a breach of the $1800 support level for an ounce.

With the beginning of this week’s trading, which was mostly quiet due to an American holiday, gold futures rose to the level of 1864 dollars an ounce. Gold’s gains were supported primarily by the weakness of the US dollar and the mixed performance of US Treasury bond yields. In general, gold prices are looking to maintain their meager monthly gains and ensure that they remain positive during the year.

The question now is: Can the price of gold return to $1,900 an ounce this summer?

The price of gold is emerging from a weekly rise of about 0.6%. It’s on track for a 0.05% monthly increase, taking its 2022 year-to-date jump to nearly 2%. The price of silver, the sister commodity of gold, is trying to stay above the level of $ 22 an ounce and the price of the white metal is enjoying a weekly rise of 1.3%, but it will end the month down by nearly 3%. Since the beginning of 2022 to date, silver prices have fallen by more than 5%.

Ahead of the important US jobs numbers, the US Dollar Index (DXY), which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of other major currencies, fell to 101.49, from an opening at 101.67. The DXY was not bearish heading into the end of May, but it is down more than 2%. However, the index is up about 6% so far this year. A weaker dollar is good for dollar-priced commodities because it makes them cheaper to buy for foreign investors.

The US Treasury market ended last week with mixed results, with the 10-year yield falling 1.5 basis points to 2.743%. One-year yields rose 2.3 basis points to 1.998%, while 30-year yields fell 2 basis points to 2.972%. The price of gold is usually sensitive to a price appreciation environment because it increases the opportunity cost of holding bullion that is not yielding.

With the US central bank’s main inflation gauge – the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index – showing signs of slowing, there is an expectation that the Fed may slow the cycle of quantitative tightening by only going ahead with a quarter-point hike in US interest rates after September. The global inflation trajectory will be beneficial for gold prices in the short term because inflation will remain high while interest rate hikes will not be as aggressive. The US holiday also reduced trading volumes, supporting gold on the rise.

In other metals markets, copper futures rose to $4.3455 a pound. Platinum futures rose to $948.30 an ounce. Palladium futures fell to $2,034.50 an ounce.

According to the technical analysis of gold: on the daily chart, the price of gold is still in a neutral position with an upward tendency. As mentioned before, the bulls’ control over the general trend will be strengthened if the gold price moves towards the resistance levels of 1878 and 1900 dollars per ounce, respectively. This may be possible and strongly in the event Global geopolitical tensions increased, led by the consequences of the continuation of the Russo-Ukrainian war. In addition to the halt in the dollar’s gains and the calm tone of global central banks towards tightening their policy.

On the other hand, the bears will return to control the direction of gold if prices move towards the support levels of 1838 dollars and 1820 dollars an ounce, respectively. I still prefer buying gold from every bearish level.

BNB/USD has begun trading today near important lows, as broad cryptocurrency price action has taken a nasty turn downwards and sentiment is being tested.

BNB/USD is near the 416.0000 price range in early trading this morning as speculators have turned nervous in the broad cryptocurrency market.  Having suffered a downward trend this weekend, BNB/USD continued to see selling erupt late last night and hit a low of nearly 411.3600 early today. On the 8^th of April BNB/USD was trading near the 441.0000 ratio.

While the broad cryptocurrency market has taken a turn for the worse and values have dropped in BNB/USD, Binance has not broken through support levels seen in the last week of March.  Depending on the technical perceptions a trader has this can be interpreted in a couple of ways.

Since the 22^nd of March, BNB/USD has delivered a fairly durable price above 400.0000. If this morning’s lows are challenged again downward and prove vulnerable nervous sentiment could be further sparked. And move towards the 412.00 mark would likely cause skeptics to believe another stronger downturn may be about to emerge. If the 410.0000 vicinity were suddenly to display weakness this would be a negative indicator for many.

Optimistic bullish traders may believe the current price level of BNB/USD is a buying opportunity.  However the short term trend may not back up that theory. The recent trajectory downward which was sparked in the middle of the past week did not reverse higher this weekend, and BNB/USD has started Monday with a vulnerable downward cycle

Speculators should expect fast market conditions near term. Since trading near the 360.0000 level on the 14^th of March, BNB/USD has delivered a significant run upwards. Perhaps the current downturn is profit taking in a normal cyclical market. Yet the fact that BNB/USD is still suffering from doubts which were caused during the long term bearish market which got underway in November of 2021. Strong selloffs which last longer than a few days raise the fear of more downward trajectories, and a return to lower support levels.

Speculators who are cautious should be extra careful in the near term.  BNB/USD and the broad cryptocurrency market appear rather fragile and ready to display more volatility. Selling BNB/USD on small reversals higher may feel like a tempting opportunity for bearish traders, but solid risk management will certainly be needed to guard against sudden strong moves higher.

Binance Coin Short-Term Outlook

Current Resistance: 419.9500

Current Support: 413.5000

High Target: 426.9500

Low Target: 405.4900