Gold is showing little movement on Tuesday, as the spot price stands at $1177.61 per ounce. On the release front, there are a host of releases ahead of the Christmas holiday. There are four key events on the calendar – Core Durable Goods Orders, Final GDP, UoM Consumer Sentiment and New Homes. With the markets having plenty of data to assess, we could see some movement from gold during the North American session.
It was a disappointing start to the week for US releases, as Existing Home Sales fell to 4.93 million in November, its lowest level in six months. The markets had expected a reading of 5.21 million. The weak reading followed the October release of 5.26 million, which was its best showing in over a year. Later on Tuesday, we’ll get a look at New Home Sales. Little change is expected in the upcoming release, with an estimate of 461 thousand.
Previous Fed policy statements have usually stated that the Fed would maintain low rates for a “considerable time”, but the December statement changed terminology, saying the Fed would be “patient” before raising rates. In a follow-press conference, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen was less ambiguous, saying that the Fed was unlikely to raise rates for the “next couple of meetings”. The markets took this to mean that a rate hike is in the works, but not before April. Gold prices remained steady after the Fed statement, but as an interest rate hike by mid-2015 seems likely, there is room for the dollar to make gains against gold.
