Speculators Increase Gold Allocations

 | Oct 22, 2014 07:05AM ET

The net long non-commercial futures on Gold increased more than 20'000 contracts on the week to October 14th. The rebound from $1,180 support has clearly been a trigger for short-term correction. In addition speculators seemingly relied on lower US yields and higher physical demand to increase long gold positions in their portfolios.

The extension of USD weakness and lower US yields should continue supporting the short-term bullish trend. The 40-day rolling correlation between XAU and U.S. 10-Year yields exceeds 50%, which is a strong sign of a risk-off environment. The U.S.10-year pays no more than 2.17% given the uncertainties on the timing of the first Fed fund rate hike. In this configuration, we see deeper upside correction in gold prices, mostly due to safe haven inflows. In addition to safety, Chinese and Indian festive periods should keep the physical demand prominent in the coming months.

XAU/USD tested $1,245/1,251. Given the strengthening bullish momentum, a breakout should open the path towards $1,283/$1,300 (Fib 61.8% on July-October sell-off / psychological level). The SPDR gold holdings remains at five year lows, while the SPDR Gold Trust (ARCA:GLD), the world's largest gold ETF, nears $200 for the first time since September 10th.

h3 Soft US inflation positive for gold/h3

Today, the US releases the September CPI figures and the expectations are soft. The headline CPI y/y is expected to slow down to 1.6% from 1.7% y/y a month ago; the core CPI should remain stable at 1.7% y/y. The moderate improvement in wage growth combined to raise US household savings will perhaps keep consumer prices subdued for some more time. The PCE y/y – closely monitored by Fed – printed 1.5% in August. The next release is due on October 31st and will perhaps remain quite far from the Fed’s 2.0% target. Soft price pressures offer a net flexibility to the Fed on the timing of the first FF rate hike. Therefore, the downside pressures in U.S. 10-year should continue, giving the expected support to gold markets.

h3 Swissquote SQORE Trade Idea:/h3

G10 Currency Trend Model: Sell AUDUSD at 1.8817