Gold Daily Fundamental Analysis Gold continued the upside rally on Monday to build on last week’s gains as the fears over the recovery, the weak dollar, and the prevailing uncertainty all supported the metal’s haven appeal. Gold continues to trade higher with the jobs data on Friday confirming the weak status of the U.S. economy and as the outlook grows dimmer, the speculation for the Feds to keep their current monetary policy is stronger and speculation for more quantitative easing becomes possible with the expiry of QE2 this month. The dollar continued to trend lower versus its major counterparts and losses spread across equity markets and other commodities like oil, which further bolstered the appeal of gold as a hedge against uncertainty and the frail greenback. With the lack of major news from the United States the dollar is likely to continue the bearish trend this week supporting the focus on gold further. The bullion on Tuesday might be affected by the RBA’s comments with the rate decision as inflationary remarks might further spark haven demand and increase the metal’s appeal. We have a number of important central bank decisions this week and the RBA is merely the beginning and with the overall bullish outlook for gold this week on the back of the weak dollar and the rising uncertainty, any hawkish comments from central banks will extend the gains and the metal will be first put to the test in Australia. Natural Gas Daily Fundamental Analysis Natural gas prices rose on Monday, where speculations of warmer than normal weather conditions will increase demand for power-plant fuel, and accordingly, natural gas prices rose. Moreover, the National Hurricane Center reported that there’s a 40% chance that thunderstorms in the Caribbean Sea will form a tropical cyclone over the next two days, which could decrease output from the Gulf of Mexico refineries, and that further supported natural gas prices. We expect natural gas prices to extend the rise on Tuesday, especially if the tropical cyclone enters the Gulf of Mexico, as traders will fear over the outlook of natural gas supply, and that will provide prices with more momentum to rise. Crude Oil Daily Fundamental Analysis Crude oil prices fell on Monday as concerns about the outlook for demand continued to dominate markets, where the weak jobs report from the United States last week signaled economic activities continued to ease in the world’s largest consumer of oil, while investors are eyeing the OPEC meeting later this week, where expectations signal OPEC will raise output in order to support global growth and ease price pressures. We still preserve our bearish outlook for crude oil prices, where the recent pessimism over the outlook for global growth, in addition to speculations that demand levels will drop due to high prices, in addition to the dollar’s strength will probably play a key role in keeping crude oil prices under pressure.

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