Gold, Silver, Platinum And Palladium Eye U.S. Election

 | Nov 08, 2016 05:33AM ET

Some thoughts on precious metals as we head into Election Day in the United States.

Well, the big day has finally arrived. Some would say not soon enough as the United States heads to the polls today. Markets are unusually quiet today in Asia with very small ranges on most currencies and commodities. Even options volatility curves have been sold in Asia, something I find surprising given the event risk ahead.

Precious metals have vacillated in some fairly large ranges along with most major currencies over the last week. There is no need to dwell on those stories but what is clear is the global markets feel President Trump would be a Brexit style event leading to massive risk-off selling and a run to safe havens.

President Clinton would be the status quo and a steady pair of hands allowing the market to get back to the more sedate business of December’s FOMC rate hike , buying USD and pondering global yield differentials. Gold’s rally above 1300 and its subsequent sell-off for example, was entirely driven by the chances of a Trump victory increasing and then receding as the Clinton server saga was finally switched off.

As tomorrow’s election exit polls and final results trickle in during the Asia morning, we will no doubt see some possibly quite large ranges traded in both currencies and precious metals. Silver, palladium, and platinum may be particularly problematic as liquidity in Asia is at a premium at the best of times. With that in mind, it is a good time to look at some of the bigger technical levels and to step out of what will no doubt be a “noisy” day for day traders.

GOLD

The Clinton driven rally topped out in the 1300/1310 resistance zone at 1307. The sell-off subsequently held at 1278 the 200-day moving average. The 100-day moving average is at 1304 and so both hem gold in nicely initially.

Bigger picture, gold is slowly but surely converging in a triangle formation with trendline support at 1260 and trendline resistance at 1330. A daily close above or below these levels will be significant. The RSI is solidly neutral as is the MACD so it could go either way from here.