Gold and silver prices rose moderately early on Monday afternoon in the United States. Gold reached a seven-month high of $1,304 an ounce in February COMEX Futures trading, giving the yellow metal more momentum to see some more gains in the near future. Gold futures for February rose $4.80 per ounce to $1,302, while the March Comex for silver rose by $ 0.071 to $15.77 an ounce.
The weak international stock markets benefited from safe haven metals at the beginning of the week. European and Asian stock markets were mostly weaker by the end of last week. US stocks fell sharply in the middle of the day, and there was some risk aversion in the market at the start of the trading week.
The US government resumed its work after partially shutting down for a month. However, the government could close again in mid-February if President Trump and the Democrats can not reach agreement on the US budget. This is good news for investors as they may be able to scrutinize some recent US economic data to help identify market prices and movements.
As for the US-China trade war that has been going on for months, this week there are high-ranking officials from both countries meeting in Washington, DC. But generally speaking, there is no consensus on any progress that could take place in talks this week, despite a series of comments by US and Chinese officials on the issue recently.
This week, especially on Tuesday and Wednesday, the FOMC meeting will be held and a monetary policy statement will be issued on Wednesday afternoon. Markets are expected to become active and volatile following the outcome of the meeting. For markets outside the US, the US dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against the rest of the major currencies, is trading fairly weak. Nymex crude prices have also fallen sharply and are trading below $52 a barrel.
Technically, February gold futures traders have short-term technical advantage and have gained more strength recently, keeping the price bullish on the daily chart. The next bullish target for gold in the near term is to close above the strong technical resistance at $1,330 an ounce, while the next short term bearish target is pushing prices below the strong technical support at $1,275. The first resistance is at the highest level for the day at $1,303, then $1,310.
For silver, March futures prices closed near their highest level today. The next bullish target for the steady silver rally is to close above the strong technical resistance at the highest level in January, at $15.955 an ounce. The next bearish target is closing below the strong support level at the January low of $15.195. The first resistance at the highest level of the day is at 15.83 dollars, and then at 15.955 dollars. The following support appears at the low of the day at $15.61 and then at $15.50.
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