Key Highlights
- Gold price made a U-turn and declined below the $1275 support against the US Dollar.
- There was a break below an important ascending channel with support at $1282 on the 4-hours chart of XAU/USD.
- The US ADP Employment Change in Nov 2017 was 190K, better than the forecast of 185K.
- Today, the US Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending Dec 2, 2017 will be released, which is forecasted to increase from 238K to 240K.
Gold Price Technical Analysis
Gold price struggled a lot to hold the $1280-1282 support area against the US Dollar. The price started a downside move and is currently well below the $1275 support.
Looking at the 4-hours chart of XAU/USD, there was a downside break below an important ascending channel with support at $1282. The price moved down sharply below $1280 and is currently well below both 100 simple moving average (red, 4-hour) and 200 simple moving average (green, 4-hour).
The price traded as low as $1260.99 recently and started a minor correction. It tested the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the last decline from the $1289.31 high to $1260.99 low.
The upside correction seems to be limited by the $1270 and $1275 levels. Should the price fail to move higher, it could even break $1260 for more declines.
US ADP Employment Change
Recently in the US, the Employment Change for Nov 2017 was released by the Automatic Data Processing, Inc. The forecast was slated for a change of 185K, compared with the last 235K.
The actual result was on the higher side, as the Private Sector employment increased by 190,000 jobs in November 2017, on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Commenting on the report, the vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, Ahu Yildirmaz, stated:
The labor market continues to grow at a solid pace. Notably, manufacturing added the most jobs the industry has seen all year. As the labor market continues to tighten and wages increase it will become increasingly difficult for employers to attract and retain skilled talent.
The outcome was positive and helped the US Dollar in gaining bids versus all major currencies in the short term.
Economic Releases to Watch Today
Euro Zone Gross Domestic Product Q3 2017 (QoQ) – Forecast 0.6%, versus 0.6% previous.
Euro Zone Gross Domestic Product Q3 2017 (YoY) – Forecast 2.5%, versus 2.5% previous.
US Initial Jobless Claims – Forecast 240K, versus 238K previous.
