Spoken over 200 years ago, Napoleon Bonaparte said, “China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes, she will move the world.”

Today it was announced by many new services that the Chinese officials have raised concerns about the impulsive nature of President Trump which has led them to believe that at this point in time it will be very difficult to a come to an amicable resolution to the trade war.

Today at the conclusion of this month’s FOMC meeting, the highly anticipated rate cut was announced and implemented. The Federal Reserve cut their Fed funds rates by a ¼% (25 basis points) to take the current spread to 175 bps. (1 ¾%) to 200 bps (2%). This action resulted in an increase of bullish sentiment in both stocks and gold.

Gold futures now for the second day in a row have traded lower. Today the December futures contract closed down $5.90 (-0.39) and is currently fixed at $1489.90. There was neither strong tailwinds or headwinds provided by the dollar which closed off fractionally on the day.

After trading to a high of $1520.90 on Friday and closing just a few dollars above $1500, gold futures opened just above the resistance trendline created from the series of lower highs, and closed solidly lower breaking below $1500. Gold futures basis the most active December contract lost $10.50 in trading (-0.70%), and closed at $1494.80.

Today we saw fast market action with Gold breaking above $1500 per ounce, after closing above that price point for the first time in a week and a half. Gold traded to an intraday high today of $1520 before coming back down and testing the former resistance line which now appears to be the inevitable support line, we need to watch next week.

Gold continues to trade under pressure, closing lower on the day and in essence unchanged on the week. As of 4:45 PM EDT gold futures are trading off by $4.60 a net decline of - 0.31%, and fixed at $1493.70.

A combination of geopolitical events has dampened earlier gains in gold futures. The precious yellow metal traded to a high of $1501 per ounce before softening on the close. As of 4:10 PM EDT gold futures are currently trading up $1.50 on the day and fixed at $1495.60.

The entire precious metals complex gained ground today trading moderate to strongly higher. As of 4:45 PM EDT gold futures are trading $10.10 higher which is a net gain of 0.68%, and fixed at $1493.60. Silver and platinum also gained value today, however any price gains were fractional at best with silver gaining 0.15%, and platinum gaining 0.17%.

Precious metals, specifically gold, silver and platinum are trading under moderate to strong selling pressure today. The only precious metal to be bucking this trend is palladium which has traded to a new all-time record high above $1700 per ounce. In fact, as of 4:50 PM EDT palladium futures are currently up 0.83% and fixed at $1701 per troy ounce.