Gold

In brisk trading today, gold prices surged and closed strongly higher. The most active December futures settled up approximately $17 on the day, and as of 3:30 EST is currently fixed at $1295.40, which is a net gain of $17.10 (+1.35%).

Okay, so we are still a good month and a half away from Christmas, and especially in Hawaii, there is no snow on the ground. However, there are some distinct parallels to recent year-end activity when it comes to gold pricing.

U.S Equities have softened for four of the last five trading days. Since Donald Trump was elected president in November of last year, U.S. equity indexes such as the Dow Jones, S&P 500, and the NASDAQ composite have traded to new all-time record highs on 58 separate occasions.

Losing almost 7/10 of a percent today, the U.S. dollar was instrumental in raising gold prices, even compensating for the modest amount of selling of gold. As of 3:30 PM Eastern standard time, the U.S. dollar index is currently trading down 64 points at 93.745.

On Friday of last week at approximately 11:10 EDT, in a span of about 10 minutes, a single order of four million ounces of Comex gold rattled the market and resulted in a drop of approximately $10.

According to CNBC, “It was not immediately clear what caused the drop.”

This morning, in the span of 15 minutes, gold prices plunged from roughly $1284 an ounce to $1274. This sizable and quickly paced price drop occurred without any real shift in market sentiment or any new relevant fundamental event that could precipitate that occurrence.

Since October 26th, when gold prices traded to $1262 for the second time to form a double bottom, gold prices have maintained and traded in a defined and narrow trading range. The first occurrence of this double bottom was the result of a strong correction which took gold pricing from $1362 to $1262 on October 5th.

For the second time this week, gold has traded and closed above a current level of resistance residing at roughly $1280 per ounce. This follows the last two weeks of market activity in which gold pricing has been stuck in a defined narrow range between $1262 (support) and $1280 (resistance).

After trading to the top of a very narrow and defined trading range yesterday, gold prices have softened slightly and are now moving back towards the center of this range. For the last two weeks, gold prices have been stuck between a support level of $1262 and a defined resistance level at $1282.

Any uptick in the closing prices of US equities today represented a new all-time record high. The Dow Jones closed up 9.23 points, the Standard & Poor’s 500 closed up 3.29 point, and the NASDAQ composite close up 22 points on the day. These upticks resulted in all three indexes closing in uncharted territory, and therefore new record highs.