Gold stays under pressure near $1320 as Wall Street rebounds
The XAU/USD pair tested the $1320 handle during the first half of the NA session and struggled to make a robust recovery from that level. As of writing, the pair was trading at $1323, losing 0.5%, or $6.5, on the day.
After today's data from the U.S. showed an unexpected contraction in the monthly retail sales in August, the US Dollar Index dropped to 91.60. Other data also failed to help the index stage a decisive recovery as the industrial production, weighed by the lower oil output from Texas amid Hurricane Harvey, declined by 0.9% for the same month while business inventories eased to 0.2% in July from 0.5% in June. Following the initial drop, the index is now consolidating its losses at 91.80, still losing 0.25% on the day.
On the other hand, major equity indexes in the U.S., which started the last day of the week in a calm manner near Thursday's closing levels on Friday, gained some traction in the last hours with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 adding 0.2% and 0.05% respectively, making it hard for the safe-haven precious metal to find demand.
Technical outlook
The CCI indicator on the daily graph remains below the 0 mark, suggesting that the bearish pressure is still intact. $1320 (20-DMA) aligns as the first technical support for the pair ahead of $1300 (psychological level) and $1288 (50-DMA). On the upside, resistances could be seen at $1335 (Sep. 14 high), $1350 (Sep. 7 high) and $1357 (Sep. 8 high).
Today's data from the U.S.:
- US: Retail sales for Aug 2017 were $474.8 bln, a decrease of 0.2% from July
- US: Industrial production declined 0.9% in Aug following six consecutive monthly gains
- US: Consumer confidence edged downward in early September - UoM
- US: Manufacturers’ and trade inventories were at $1,873.9 bln, up 0.2% from June