Gold’s Attempt to Break the Bearish Sentiment?
The U.S. Comex gold futures surged 1.91% to $1,262.30 on Thursday after dropping 1.06% earlier in the week. On the contrary, the Dollar Index plunged 0.90% to 80.438, the largest daily percentage decline since mid-October. The S&P 500 Index and the Euro Stoxx 50 Index fell 0.54% and 1.17% respectively this week. The U.S. 10-year Treasury bond yield plunged about nine basis points on Thursday to 2.779%, the lowest level since the beginning of December.
The Cross Currents of Economic Data
The
recent economic data from the U.S. are weaker than in the Q4. The
continuing jobless claims rose to 3.06 million as of 11 January compared
to an expected 2.925 million. The U.S. January preliminary PMI was
53.7, lower than the 55 expected. The leading index rose 0.1% in
December compared to 0.8% in November. The China flash January PMI fell
to 49.6 (that means a contraction) versus 50.5 in the prior month. The
contraction adds to the concerns of rising interest rates and the
possibility of defaults of China’s high-yielding trust products. In the
Eurozone, the January PMI rose to 53.9 compared to 52.7 last month,
beating the expectation of 53.
Forecasters’ Tamed Outlook
The
LBMA and the GFMS expect an average gold price of $1,219 and $1,225 in
2014. This compares with an actual average price of $1,411 last year
and a gold price of $1,204.50 for London Gold Market PM Fixing as of 30
December, 2013. Adding to the more cautious price forecasts, the
jewellery demand in the first half of 2014 is expected to drop 16%
according to GFMS. Jewellery demand reached 2,198 tonnes last year, a
five-year high. However, if India does relax the draconian import curb
on gold, as recommended by Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi, the
pent-up demand for gold would help gold prices this year.
.
What to Watch
We
will watch the ECB President speech in Davos on 24 January. Next week,
we will monitor the January Germany IFO business climate index on 27
January, the December U.S. durable goods orders, and the January U.S.
consumer confidence index on 28 January, the U.S. FOMC interest rate
decision on 29 January, the preliminary U.S. Q4 GDP, Japan’s December
CPI and industrial production on 30 January as well as the Eurozone
December unemployment rate and the December U.S. core PCE price index on
31 January.
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24 Jan 2014 | Categories: Gold
