- 57% of all SWFX open positions are long
- Trader pending commands are set up to buy the metal, namely 53% of total orders
- Gold opened Thursday's session at 1,187.81
- Economic events to watch over the next 24 hours: All quiet after influencing data on Thursday
New orders for US manufactured durable goods rose markedly last month, driven by higher demand for machinery and other equipment, official figures revealed on Wednesday. Overall, new orders for capital goods jumped 4.8% in October, according to the US Department of Commerce. Meanwhile, market analysts anticipated a slight acceleration to 1.2%. The September figure was revised down from -0.1% to -0.3%. Demand for transportation equipment jumped 12% during the reported month, the largest gain since October 2015. Back in September, new orders for transportation equipment climbed 0.4%. Excluding orders tied to transportation, core durable goods orders increased 1.0%, following September's downwardly revised gain of 0.1% and surpassing the 0.2% rise market forecast. The US economy is set to expand at a 3.6% annual pace in the Q3, after growing 2.9% in the previous quarter. Separately, the Department of Labor reported on Wednesday the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased to 251,000 in the week ending November 18, up from the prior week's 233,000, whereas analysts expected a milder rise to 241,000.
On Monday 21 of November ECB President Mario Draghi, during his speech has urged the European Union to stay united in the face of different challenges such as Brexit as he warned that the cohesion of Europe is being tested. Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr. Draghi noted that "The euro area recovery continues to proceed at a moderate, but steady, pace. It has shown remarkable resilience to adverse developments and uncertainties emanating from the global environment." said that Europe needs to respond "cohesively and decisively" to the current challenges facing Europe. Overall, Mr. Draghi maintained a neutral tone and he is not prepared at this stage to offer strong hints over the likely policy action at December's policy meeting. There were also no attempts to steamroller the ECB Council into policy action. The stated above comments will maintain expectations that the ECB is not planning to announce some form of bond-buying extension, although the details are still in discussion. In the meantime, reaction to the speech was limited as markets remained in a consolidation phase with EUR/USD finding support just below the 1.0600 level.
Upcoming fundamentals: A quiet Thursday
After yesterday's US data release and the following rise of the US Dollar, there are no scheduled notable data releases for Thursday.
Gold falls below 1,200
Daily chart: As our team has been forecasting for the whole past week, the yellow metal reached the 1,200 mark. Although, the fall was expected to occur earlier than Wednesday. During Wednesday's session the bullion fell by 2.09% and even moved below two additional support levels at 1,195.64 and 1,184.22. It seems that the metal will continue to fall during Thursday's session, as the metal already reached below the weekly S2 at 1,184.22 more than once, and the next support level is located at 1,165.54, where the weekly S3 is located at.Daily chart
Hourly chart: The hourly chart shows a very similar picture to other financial instruments traded against the US Dollar. That is due to the fact that the yellow metal began to move lower, as a result of a strong resistance cluster reversing the rates movement, and at 13:30 GMT the US Durable Goods orders change propelled the US Dollar higher. Due to that the metal fell below the 1,200 mark. However, the fall to the weekly S2 at 1,184.22 followed afterwards. Since then, the weekly S2 has provided support two times to the bullion.
Hourly chart
SWFX traders remain bullish
OANDA open long positions decreased and are at 78.02%, compared to 80.66% on Wednesday. Meanwhile, SAXO bank traders have done the same, as on Thursday 66.31% of traders bet the metal will surge, compared to 68.25% during the previous session.