US pending home sales dropped unexpectedly last month to the lowest level since January 2016, official figures revealed on Wednesday. The National Association of Realtors reported its Pending Home Sales Index fell a seasonally adjusted 2.5% to 107.3 in November, following the preceding month's rise of 0.1% to 110.0 points, while market analysts anticipated a slight acceleration of 0.5% during the reported period. On an annual basis, the Index declined at an annualized pace of 0.4%. In regional terms, sales jumped 0.6% in the Northeast, but dropped 2.5% in the Midwest, 6.7% in the West and 1.2% in the South during November. According to NAR Chief Economist Larry Yun, the sharp rise in mortgages rates and shortages on the housing market were the main driver of the decline last month.
As a result, the EUR/USD par fell to 1.0394 from 1.0398 ahead of the release, while the GBP/USD declined to 1.2210 from 1.2217. Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index, which tracks the Greenback's performance against a group of six other currencies, remained unchanged at 103.67.
A release that matters
The markets are about to be affected by US Fundamental data, as there are loads of small US data releases. However, there is one data release that is about to almost for sure to shake the market enough to probably provide a trading opportunity and profit from short term volatility. The US Unemployment Claims will be published at 13:30 GMT, and this is one of the three data releases, which really have proven themselves to cause volatility.
Gold jumps on Thursday morning
Daily chart: The yellow metal's price jumped on Thursday morning and reached once more the second weekly resistance at 1,150.18. However, the metal did not manage to break through the resistance, which on Thursday was strengthened by the 20-day SMA at 1,151.45. In the meantime, daily aggregate technical indicators forecast a fall of the metal by the end of the day, which might occur, as markets still predict that the US Dollar will appreciate even more.SWFX traders still optimistic
Spreads (avg,pip) / Trading volume / Volatility
Market participants foresee the price of gold below 1,200 by end of March
Traders who were asked regarding their longer-term views on gold between November 29 and December 29 expect, on average, to see the metal below 1,200 by end of March. Generally, 23% (+1%) of participants believe the price will be above 1,300 in ninety days. Alongside, 34% of those surveyed reckon the currencies will trade in the range between 1,000 and 1,200 over the next three months.