Gold, silver see steady price action ahead of Powell, round 2

(Kitco News,Thurs. July 15th, 2021) – Gold and silver prices are trading near steady in early U.S. dealings Thursday. The marketplace awaits Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s testimony to a Senate committee, after he leaned easy on monetary policy when speaking to a House of Representatives panel on Wednesday. August gold futures were last up $1.40 at $1,826.40 and September Comex silver was last up $0.044 at $26.315 an ounce.

Global stock markets were mixed to weaker overnight. The U.S. stock indexes are pointed toward mixed openings when the New York day session begins. The market place is digesting Powell’s testimony Wednesday. He leaned dovish on U.S. monetary policy by saying the Fed is still a ways off on tapering its bond-buying program (quantitative easing). He also said the U.S. central bank still believes rising inflation is only transitory. Focus today will be on his answers to lawmakers’ questions after he released a statement on Wednesday, before speaking to the House panel.

In overnight news, China’s economic growth pace slowed in the second quarter, at up 7.9%, year-on-year. That number is still strong by all standards but does hint that China’s strong economic rebound from the pandemic is leveling off. China’s GDP was up 18.3% in the first quarter. China also reported its industrial production rose a higher-than-expected 8.3% in June.

The new strain of Covid-19 continues to surge in some regions of the world, hitting Asia especially hard. This is reviving concerns that hard-hit countries’ economies will again start to suffer. This matter could put cap on global stock market rallies that have seen some major indexes hit record highs.

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index slightly lower, while Nymex crude oil prices are lower and trading around $72.40 a barrel. The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield is presently fetching 1.321%.

U.S. economic data due for release Thursday includes the weekly jobless claims report, the Empire State manufacturing survey, the Philadelphia Fed business survey, import and export prices, and industrial production and capacity utilization.

Technically, gold futures bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage and have restarted a price uptrend on the daily bar chart. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $1,850.00. Bears’ next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,775.00. First resistance is seen at the overnight high of $1,835.00 and then at $1,850.00. First support is seen at $1,810.00 and then at $1,800.00. Wyckoff’s Market Rating: 6.0

The silver bulls and bears are on a level overall near-term technical playing field. Silver bulls’ next upside price objective is closing September futures prices above solid technical resistance at $28.00 an ounce. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the June low of $25.58. First resistance is seen at this week’s high of $26.575 and then at the July high of $26.91. Next support is seen at $26.00 and then at last week’s low of $25.82.

Posted by :

Jack Dempsey, President

401 Gold Consultants LLC

jdemp2003@gmail.com