Originally published by AxiTrader
Gold is under pressure again after failing again at its 200 day moving average twice this week.
After making a high of $1261 Monday, in the aftermath of the GOP's inability to pass the bill to repeal Obamacare, gold traded sideways before falling heavily over the past 24 hours. Since that failure earlier this week gold has dropped almost $20 from the week's high and is sitting at $1242 an ounce this morning.
At $1242 this morning the price is down almost $20 from the high. And as the candle shows, the price action looks awful.
Why that is is fairly easy to understand when I think about what are the primary drivers of golds price.
First though, it is always important to note that while gold has a manufacturing quality to it via the demand for jewellery it is in reality a financial commodity.
It represents a store of wealth, and it also represents to many traders and investors a way to trade their view on other markets.
So it is over recent years that gold has trended nicely with moves in the USD dollar (naturally as the other side of the cross) and interest rates.
You can see that clearly in the chart below.
So it is no surprise gold is under pressure.
That's because of the neat convergence of US rates rising from their lows this week on the back of strong data and more warnings from Fed speakers that rates are going to increase in the US.
That in itself hurts gold.
So against that backdrop and with the US dollar gaining ground as the ECB signals - and overnight German and Spanish inflation data confirmed - it is in no hurry to raise rates gold came under further pressure.
Which brings me back to the charts.
A break of $1240 would signal a run to $1235. That's the 38.2% retracement level of the rally from $1194 to above $1260 recently and would be a simple garden variety pullback.
A breach of that level would suggest the tractor beam of the $1219/20 region would be in the frame once more.
Have a great day's trading.