GOLD: Long At 1090, Watch U.S. CPI Today

 | Jan 20, 2016 07:35AM ET


Gold: Long At 1090, Watch US CPI Today

  • Gold rose today, benefiting from a weaker USD. Asian stocks slid to a four-year trough and European mining and energy share indices touched their lowest level in more than 12 years. Gold, often seen as an alternative investment during times of financial uncertainty, benefited from the risk-averse sentiment in the market along with other safe-haven assets such as the JPY.
  • The International Monetary Fund cut its global growth forecasts for the third time in less than a year. To back its forecasts, the IMF cited a sharp slowdown in China trade and weak commodity prices that are hammering Brazil and other emerging markets. The Fund forecast that the world economy would grow at 3.4% in 2016 and 3.6% in 2017, both years down 0.2 percentage point from the previous estimates made last October. It said policymakers should consider ways to bolster short-term demand.
  • The Fund said the outlook for an acceleration of US output was dimming as dollar strength weighs on manufacturing and lower oil prices curtail energy investment. It now projects US economic growth at 2.6% for both 2016 and 2017, down 0.2 percentage point in both years from the October forecast. Weaker growth forecasts for the US are important for gold market, as they weaken the USD, which is negatively correlated with gold.
  • We went long yesterday at 1090.00 and the target of our position is 1120.00. An important support level is 14-day exponential moving average, currently at 1086.36. The nearest resistance level is 1097.20 high on January 15. Breaking above this level will open the way to 1112.00 high on January 8.
  • The market will be focused on US inflation data today (13:30 GMT). We expect slightly lower reading (0.7% yoy) than the market consensus (0.8% yoy), which should support the gold.

PRECIOUS METALS: