The day we have been waiting for has finally arrived and passed as markets put significant weight on each of Jerome Powell's words. He hit on all the "hawkish" bullet points and even discredited the softer July PCE data. The message was a blow to investors, triggering a rise in the U.S. Dollar and Treasury yields which weighed in on Precious Metals. As you can see from our correlation matrix below how it is crucial to monitor rolling correlations as the 10-day Gold/Dollar correlation was -58%, and now the 5-day correlation is -97%, meaning "if the Dollar goes up, Gold is heading lower.
Rolling Correlation Matrix
Daily Gold Chart
Given the rally from the July lows, we suspected some pullback would happen before determining the next trending direction. Gold must regain $1800 and Silver $20 to keep the bullish momentum alive for the remainder of the year. The first level of support comes at $1750, $1700, and $1685. While Gold and Silver ETF holdings continue to decline, the market is less impacted by supply and demand and more focused on the U.S. Dollar, Treasury yields, economic data, and speculation on the duration of Fed rate hikes. Unfortunately for the bull camp today, Jerome Powell could not field questions after the Jackson Hole symposium. In the past three hawkish meetings, he has used the Q&A platform to help support the market by hinting that a possible "Dovish pivot" could occur depending on the data. Therefore, we believe the path of least resistance is lower for the time being for Precious Metals. If the trend flips back to bullish, we will inform our clients through our daily Tactical Insights report.
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Next week's probable ranges
Looking ahead into next week, we will continue to see inflationary pressures build. We believe that rising energy costs and agricultural prices will keep inflation elevated well into the September CPI report leaving the Fed with no choice but to raise another 75 bps at the next meeting. Without a Fed pivot, remain defensive. If you need additional info or want to see our daily Buy/Sell levels for all your favorite commodities, please register for a free two-week trial of our daily Tactical Insights report by clicking here. Get Tactical Insights