The latest influx of largely positive economic indicators from the United States on Thursday morning has assuaged concerns of an impending recession, propelling stock markets towards fresh weekly peaks. Concurrently, gold has maintained a steady course within its recent trading range, presenting opportunities for strategic buying during dips, as highlighted by Valeria Bednarik, chief analyst at FXStreet.
Bednarik observed that spot gold witnessed modest gains during afternoon trading following a period of market volatility earlier in the day.
“XAU/USD dipped to $2,432.04 prior to the commencement of trading on Wall Street, as a slew of US data diverted speculative interest away from the safe-haven metal,” she remarked. “The financial world received news of a notable 1% surge in US Retail Sales for July, surpassing the anticipated 0.3% growth. Additionally, Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending August 9 increased to 227K, below the 235K forecast.”
The positive data releases spurred a rally in the US dollar against major currencies, Bednarik highlighted. “US indices also made gains, alleviating recession concerns while leaving the likelihood of an imminent Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate cut unchanged,” she explained. “Stock markets maintained an optimistic stance post-opening, extending gains to reach new weekly highs, although the USD retraced its gains. However, the subsequent set of US data painted a less rosy picture, with Capacity Utilization hitting 77.8% in July and Industrial Production declining by 0.6% in the same month, both figures falling short of expectations and below June’s metrics.”
