GoldPrice

US consumer sentiment improved by a thin margin with the index increasing from 98.2 in June to 98.4 in July. This increase was in line with forecast and marks 5 months of the index staying within a 2.8-point range.  Earlier last year marked the highest consumer sentiment since 2004 and we are slowly creeping towards that figure again.

The Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index came in at 21.8 in July compared to just 5 expected, greatly exceeding expectations following a weak result in June which saw the index dip to near negative territory at just 0.3.

The rate of US home construction declined in June with apartment building leading the drop, offsetting a small increase in the rate of construction on new single-family homes. The rate of permits has now hit a 2-year low, indicating further poor performance to come.

US retail sales blew past projections of 0.2% gains in June, coming in at 0.4% gain following a downwardly revised 0.4% gain the month prior. Sales excluding volatile components also exceeded expectations, and this is seen as a more accurate gauge of consumer demand.

Good morning traders, and welcome back to another week in the metals markets!

As we anticipated, the action on gold charts was pretty heavily condensed to the middle of the week and we’ve seen a wide $30 trading range over the last five sessions. At the time of writing, gold prices are holding steadily just below $1410/oz in the sport markets; prices are largely unchanged from Thursday morning and represent a fall from the weekly highs but a somewhat bullish net gain for the week.

US producer prices ticked upward in June while the cost of energy and other goods fell for the second month in a row. The Labor Department released a report on Friday stating that the producer price index (PPI) rose by 0.1% in June after a similar gain in May. The gain was in line with market expectations.

The core-consumer prices index saw the biggest gain since January 2018 in June with 2.1% gain vs. 2% expected. The data indicates rising inflation pressures, although the Federal Reserve is still considered likely to implement rate cuts this month.

Stocks hit new highs today as the Fed has indicated that an interest rate cut is imminent, Fed Funds futures agree. During last months meeting the Federal Reserve held rates steady waiting to see more economic data that would indicate the economy is slowing down.

Happy Monday, traders. Welcome to your weekly look ahead at the macroeconomic calendar from the perspective of the gold market. We’ve got a relatively quiet slate over the next five days, but there are still a few potential flash points.

Happy Friday traders, welcome to your recap of the week.

Nonfarm payrolls rose 224,000 in June, easily surpassing the market expectations of 165,000 according to a report released by the Labor Department on Friday.