Today it was reported that both President Trump and the first lady have contracted the coronavirus. Obviously when the individual holding the highest office in the United States tests positive for Covid-19 it raises serious questions not only about the president’s health, but also the course of November’s presidential election as well as national security.

During this election year there has been a multitude of events which have created a climate of uncertainty. In the short-term market participants are awaiting tomorrow’s data when the U.S. Labor Department releases the jobs report for the month of August.

Last night’s first presidential debate was more like an MMA (mixed martial arts) bout then a discourse between two candidates seeking the highest office in the land.

Both gold and silver both had respectable gains in trading today. Concurrently U.S. equities traded under moderate pressure, as traders and market participants await the outcome of tonight’s presidential debate.

On Friday, September 25 we spoke about the fact that gold had plunged below its 50-day moving average one week prior. Last Thursday and Friday the intraday lows took gold pricing just above the 100-day moving average. The fact that gold prices managed to hold above this key level indicates that on a technical basis there is real support for gold at approximately $1850 per ounce.

Gold futures opened at $1957 on Monday and today is trading at $1864.60. This week traders have witnessed almost a $100 drop in pricing. Monday’s action resulted in gold dropping by $57 taking pricing below its 50-day moving average kicking off the bearish sentiment.

Although gold trading higher for one day does not necessarily signal a reversal, any recovery could begin with this type of price action. Today gold did trade to the lowest price point during this most recent correction, trading to an intraday low of $1851.50 before recovering. However, it closed higher than yesterday’s close, and closed above its open.

Over this last month the U.S. dollar has been on an absolute tear, moving higher and gaining value. Consider this; on September 1^st, the dollar index hit an intraday low of 91.70, today the dollar index closed up today by +0.45 %, and is fixed at 94.455. That means that the dollar has gained roughly 2.755% in value in less than a single month.

Global concerns about the increase of new cases of the novel coronavirus in Europe as well as the United States have had a dramatic impact on both U.S. equities and gold yesterday. Both equities as well as gold were sharply lower in trading yesterday. While equities in the United States recovered today, gold pricing on the other hand, continued to decline.

As of 4:00 PM EST the equities markets are closing for the day and still settling. Today’s market action can best be described as brutal, with all three major indices and the entire precious metals complex trading dramatically lower. Currently the Dow Jones industrial average is trading 510 points lower, and currently fixed at 27,147.24.