The US dollar recovered after the announcement of intensive US economic data just before today's holiday, halting the upward rebound for the gold price XAU/USD. The price had reached the resistance level of $2007 per ounce, the highest for the yellow metal in a month. Recently, US Dollar gains brought the gold price back to the $1986 level before rebounding in its broader upward trend to the resistance level of $1998 per ounce. Obviously, this is approaching the psychological resistance of $2000 per ounce again as of the time of writing.
On another note, US stocks rose on Wall Street on Wednesday, led by significant gains in travel-related company stocks, as energy prices declined. According to the trades, the S&P 500 index rose by 0.4% and is still on track to achieve modest gains in a short week due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. The benchmark index is ending three consecutive weeks of victories. In trades, the Dow Jones Industrial Average also rose by 175 points, or 0.5%, to 35,263 points, and the Nasdaq index rose by 0.5%.
Meanwhile, Crude oil prices fell by 0.9% after OPEC said it would postpone its last meeting until next week. The oil cartel maintains a tight market for crude oil with production cuts. However, the drop in oil prices affected energy companies, with the sector declining by 0.3%. As a result, Exxon Mobil's stock fell by 0.6%, and Halliburton, the oilfield services company, declined by 1%. Furthermore, the sharp drop in oil prices helped airline companies and other companies that would benefit from lower fuel costs. Contrarily, United Airlines stock rose by 1.2%, and Carnival Cruise Line climbed by 1.8%.
On the other hand, Treasury bond yields were relatively stable. As, the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds rose to 4.41% from 4.40% late on Tuesday. Nearby, the yield on 2-year Treasury bonds remained steady at 4.89%.
As for other global stock markets, Asian and European stock indices finished mostly mixed. Recently, trading activity dwindled ahead of the holidays in the United States and Japan, with little data being released to give guidance to the markets. Also, Markets in the United States will be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving and will close early on Friday.
On the economic side, the American consumer opinion poll conducted by the University of Michigan showed that confidence remains strong. Wall Street markets are closely monitoring consumer spending and confidence reports for more clues about the economy's future path. Overall, forecasts for a potential recession have been pushed back to 2024 while also being tempered. Inflation continues to decline, consumer spending remains strong, and the economy is generally doing well. Thus, this has encouraged hopes and bets that the Federal Reserve has finished raising US interest rates and could soon consider lowering interest rates.
However, Fed officials said the outlook for the economy remains uncertain and they will make next decisions on interest rates based on incoming reports. Furthermore, The Fed will get another big update next week when the government publishes its October report on the main measure of inflation the US central bank tracks.
Gold Price Forecast and Analysis Today:
It is expected that the upward trend in the price of gold will continue in the coming days, and the return of the gold price. however, the price of gold may be exposed to profit-taking sales if the US dollar recovers again, or the pace of global geopolitical tensions calms down. On the other hand, according to the performance on the daily chart below, the return of the XAU/USD gold price towards the support levels of 1985 and 1968 dollars per ounce will support a change in direction to the downside.
.jpeg "XAU/USD (Daily Chart)")