Gold Daily Fundamental Analysis Gold continued to fluctuate heavily on Wednesday amid the uncertainty dominating the market with the debt crisis on the one hand and the FOMC decision on the other. The haven demand was only slightly brushed after Papandreou won a confidence vote in parliament as the major obstacle remains pushing through austerity measures which are still steps doubted to pass and accordingly leaving debt woes still hovering over the market. This fear and with the pending FOMC vote all managed to only add more volatility to the precious metal as the currencies instability helped the metal rise in hedge and haven demand. The relief rally was also dominant for crude oil which rose higher and extended the gains more of the session helping the appeal of commodities and gold as a hedge against inflation. We can see gold moving the most on the back of the uncertainty and the rising debt woes which we expect will continue to support the metal on Thursday. The debt crisis will be back in focus as investors set their attention to the EU leaders and the start of the two-day Brussels summit on hopes for a unified stance on Greece. Further volatility will be seen from the dollar’s side as the market will continue to react to the Feds decision and Bernanke’s comments, especially in the Asian session. A stronger dollar will surely hurdle the metal’s gains and might pressure it to the downside, yet overall will not strongly dim the metal’s appeal which continues to be favored for more gains. Crude Oil Daily Fundamental Analysis Crude oil prices rose on Wednesday after the EIA report showed crude oil inventories fell by 1.7 million barrels almost in line with expectations of a drop by 1.8 million barrels, while motor gasoline inventories fell last week opposite to expectations, which supported crude oil prices to rise. Also, rising confidence in markets after Greek Prime Minister received a vote of confidence helped in pushing crude oil prices further to the upside earlier on Wednesday. Moreover, the Federal Open Market Committee announced on that it left the benchmark interest rates unchanged at a record low between 0.00% and 0.25%, while confirming that the $600 billion QE2 will end as planned, and the Fed will continue to reinvest maturing mortgage and debt securities. While rising crude oil prices supported the CAD and pressured the USD/CAD pair to the downside. The FOMC decision was in line with expectations, while the FOMC statement only confirmed that the recovery slowed down during the second quarter of this year, while inflationary pressures picked up on rising energy and food prices, nonetheless, the long term inflation expectations remained stable according to the Fed. The Fed signaled that interest rates will remain at exceptionally low levels for an extended period, while the Fed will continue to monitor the economic outlook and the financial developments and will act as needed. We advise traders to remain cautious amid the huge uncertainty still surrounding the outlook, since confidence in markets remains rather fragile, and if pessimism dominates markets once again, we should expect crude oil prices to drop. Thursday June 23: At 12:30 GMT, U.S economy will release the weekly initial claims for the week ending June 17, where the number of people filing for first-time claims for the state unemployment reached 414 thousand last week. At 14:00 GMT, the U.S. will release the new home sales index for the month of May, where new homes sales are expected to drop by 4.0% to an annual rate of 310,000 units, compared with the prior estimate of 323,000 units. Another highlight for the day will be the evening dinner start for the EU Leaders Summit in Brussels which is expected to high focus on the Greek crisis and the deepening debt agony in the euroarea and Europe as a whole. The focus will be on any comments and decisions as the summit continues into Friday. Natural Gas Daily Fundamental Analysis Natural gas prices fell on Wednesday despite ongoing expectations of higher than average temperatures in Southern of the United States, which pushed natural gas prices higher this week on speculations that demand for power-plant fuel will increase, however, traders seem to be closing their positions before Thursday’s EIA for natural gas inventories, which is expected to show natural gas inventories increased last week. Warmer than average weather conditions should keep upside pressure on natural gas prices, as demand for power-plant fuel will increase, since that cooling demand will rise, while Thursday’s EIA report for stockpiles will probably affect prices strongly.

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