- 60% of all SWFX open positions are long
- Pending orders optimistic with 68% to buy
- Gold opened Tuesday's session at 1,169.01
- Economic events to watch over the next 24 hours: US JOLTS Job Openings, US Crude Oil Inventories
The United States' services sector activity hit its one-year high last month, official figures revealed on Monday. The Institute of Supply Management reported its Non-Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index advanced to 57.2 in November from the previous month's 54.8 points. The November figure was the highest since October 2015 and marked the 82nd straight month of growth in the sector, while analysts anticipated the Index to come in at 55.3 in the reported month. Any reading above the 50 point level indicates expansion in the services sector, which accounts for more than twothirds of the US economy. Furthermore, the Employment Index climbed to 58.2 from October's 53.1 points, showing that hiring rose at a much faster pace in November. The Non-Manufacturing Business Activity Index rose to 61.7 from 57.7 in October, while the New Orders Index dropped to 57.0 from 57.7 and the Prices Index came in at 56.3, losing 0.3 points during November. The majority of respondents expressed a positive view of the economy. Earlier, Markit's final Services PMI for the US came in at 54.6, slightly below the 54.8 point forecast. As a result, the EUR/USD was unchanged at 1.0728, while the GBP/USD fell to 1.2712 from 1.2716 from ahead of the release and the USD/JPY rose from 114.37 to 114.62.
The number of homes that went under contract inched higher in October, a sign the housing market could be plateauing in the final months of the year. The National Association of Realtors reported that its pending home sales index, which tracks contract signings for previously owned homes, edged up 0.1% from a downwardly revised September reading to a seasonally adjusted 110.0. Sales typically close within a month or two of signing. It is essential to note that while demand for housing is high, supply still continues to weaken across much of the nation and is well below 2015 levels. While homebuilders ramped up production in October, overall construction is still well below historical norms. Builders cite the high costs of land, labor and regulation as barriers to increased volume.
Upcoming fundamentals: US JOLTS Job Openings, US Crude Oil Inventories
US Crude oil inventories will be the main market mover for EUR/USD and could lead to some broken technical levels at 15:30 GMT. JOLTS job openings could set the ground at 15:00 GMT and is likely to send some shock waves if targets are missed.
Gold about to give in to one of the trend-lines
Daily chart: Following a completely non-volatile session, gold opened slightly reddish, and line with the channel down pattern on the hourly chart. Slowly approaching the senior downtrend at 1,149.01, the rate will give in to one of the trend-lines – either the senior one or that of the channel. In case the channel bottom boundary is not reached on the next waves south, the pattern should break until the end of December, leading to a loss of steepness and momentum. The pair is capped by 1,174.43, the channel top trend-line from the upside, and in case broken, 1,178.21 will cut the losses.Daily chart
Hourly chart: The hourly chart shows Gold slipping beneath the 1169.10 level which failed to give access to the area before. The Bullion has currently overstepped the upper trend-line of the channel, and the ease with which it is pushing through levels of significance suggests that a close above 1,171.21/1,172.08 would send a decent bullish signal and could even lead to a break out of the channel. Immediate support below the opening level now lies at 1166.46.
Hourly chart
SWFX sentiment stays the same
The extremely optimistic OANDA Gold traders have found the Bullion even more attractive on Wednesday– 84.44% of open positions were long, compared to 77.64% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, traders of SAXO bank seem to have also increased their bullish stance, as Wednesday showed 67.16% of traders betting the metal will surge, compared to 66.08% during the previous session.