Powell’s Maiden Voyage

Although trading well off of highs achieved earlier in the trading session, gold is moderately higher as traders await Jerome Powell’s first testimony to the House and Senate committees this week.

As of 3:45 PM Eastern standard time, gold futures (April Comex contract) are trading up $4.50 (+0.34%) at $1,334 80. Gold traded to $1,342.90 overseas last night but has softened as a strong risk-on environment emerged in U.S. equities today.

With 15 minutes left in the trading day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is currently up +1.45%, presently fixed at 24,680 with a net gain of 370 points. Along with the Dow, both the NASDAQ composite and Standard & Poor’s 500 are up over a full percent on the day.

Even with these substantial gains in U.S. equities, gold pricing is holding up rather well in anticipation of testimony to be given this week by the recently appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell.

Beginning tomorrow, Powell will speak to the U.S. House of Representatives, followed by a trip to the U.S. Senate on Thursday.

In an interview with MarketWatch Jeff Wright, chief investment officer at Wolfpack Capital stated that he believes that today’s higher pricing in gold is “attributed to ‘positioning’ ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s first testimony before congressional committees on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.

The market is anticipating three interest rate hikes for the year and clues will be sought to either confirm this number. If Powell ‘is like his predecessors, he will temper his language and give away little on this topic so not to be boxed in either way later in the year’.”

Our technical studies indicate current support levels in gold reside at $1,322, the 50-day moving average, with major support at $1310. Minor resistance resides at $1,335 which is the 23% retracement, with major resistance just above $1360 per ounce which is the most recent high achieved in gold which occurred last week.

Wishing you as always, good trading,