Although gold is trading well off of its intraday high, the sun colored metal was able to hold onto fractional gains throughout the trading session. As of 4:30 PM Eastern standard time gold futures, basis the February 2019 Comex contract is trading up by $2.20 (+0.16%) and fixed at $1291.60.

Although gains for this week in gold pricing were fractional, nonetheless it closed above its open on Monday. This creates a green candlestick on a weekly chart, and now for the fourth consecutive week we have seen gold close with weekly gains. The last time this occurred was in mid-November up until the first week of December.

The daily range in gold continues to compress, after trading to an intraday high of $1300.40, and an intraday low of $1278 on Friday of last week, each trading day this week can be characterized as a compressing range defined by the intraday range from Friday, January 4.Today is no exception as traders were able to push the market to a high of $1298 and as low as $1286.70.

Gold futures moved back into rally mode today, and as of 4:30 PM Eastern standard time is currently trading up $7.50 per ounce, with the most active Comex February futures contract fixed at $1293.50.

Gold futures had a modest retreat today, and as of 4:25 PM Eastern standard time is trading down by $4.40 and currently fixed at $1285.50. At the same time we have seen palladium pricing, which has been breaking its record high almost on a weekly basis trading up $26 today and currently bid at $1266.20. That puts the differential between gold and palladium futures at under $20 per ounce.

Gold futures have staged a modest recovery today, with the most active Comex February contract with one hour left in trading is $2.60 higher at $1288.30. Today’s gains come after Friday’s dynamic selling pressure which resulted in a decline of over $10 per ounce. Friday’s trading range was also exaggerated with the intraday high trading just above $1300, and a low of $1278 per ounce.

A one-two combination of an extremely strong jobs report coupled with statements by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell resulted in market sentiment taking a 180° turn from extreme bearish sentiment to extreme bullish sentiment in regard to U.S. equities.

Make no mistake, gold has been in a defined rally mode for almost two months. Since the middle of November when gold was trading just under $1,200 per ounce, we have seen a defined and solid uptrend moving gold approximately $100 higher.

Traders returned from an extended holiday weekend as they welcomed the first trading day of 2019. As we saw last year, extreme volatility in U.S. equities was the norm rather than an exception. Trading under pressure early in the trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke 23,000 and traded to a low of 22,928 before recovering, with a net decline of 386 points.