Gold and Silver Prices Continue to Creep Higher

Gold and Silver prices continued to push towards their recent highs yesterday, aided by the US Dollar which began to slide further away from the 2018 highs. Gold has been on a run lately, after breaking through the 1230 resistance area following the end of November Non-Farm Payroll report.

Currently the gains in Gold and Silver prices are being supported by a Dollar weakness across the board. Versus the Japanese Yen; USD made most losses, in just two days the price has fallen over $1, although against CAD (which has also been weakening) it remained relatively stable.

Weakness in stocks can often see Gold begin to gain, and currently stocks have been very weak. It’s actually quite surprising that Gold and Silver have not gained more, considering the money that has been pulled out of stocks. Maybe that’s a sign that the stock market is simply correcting (money waiting to buy back in) rather than crashing (money running scared to other investments). I’m sure we will soon know as January and a new year approaches.

For now Gold needs to break, convincingly, above $1250 and hold. As you can see on the chart below $1250 is the last recent high, and also the area in the downtrend that broke down during the early summer slide.

If the US Dollar remains weak into the end of the year then it’s entirely possible we will see that break above. However there is a strong trend-line on the US Dollar index below which is will need to break before and sustained Dollar weakness can occur.

See the neat and tidy upward trend that the US Dollar has been navigating since early 2018?

It will probably take a shift in monetary policy to break this trend. But with Donald Trump at the helm, I am sure there will be news to help swing things around soon enough.

from http://www.livecharts.co.uk/livewire/2018/12/gold-and-silver-prices-continue-to-creep-higher/

FTSE / DAX Still Weak Moving Into End of Year

Shares in the UK and Europe are still languishing near their year lows, as the often strong time of year for the markets arrives, and nearly passes. The FTSE 100 made a clean break of the support in early December, under 6850 and has since not shown any real strength to suggest it will attempt to make back the loss.

FTSE 100 Below Support

Similar patterns are apparent over on the DAX30 index too. Early December saw the German market break down under 11000 and currently looks weak below it.

Why Are Shares So Weak?

There are many reasons that can be attached to the weakness in stocks. We have the uncertainty of Brexit, which I will spare you from more details (I’m sure you are sick of it all by now) and there’s the on-going “trade war” between Donald Trump and China. With China being a huge market for many companies, especially for metal exports, it’s not surprising investors are wary. A further slowdown of China’s economy is the highly likely over the coming quarters, and the markets could be pricing this fact in.

For those in the UK, again Brexit worries are pushing the British Pound back towards the lows of 2016. Every rise is being met by further lows, nobody is in the mood to buy GBP. Which is no surprise given the prospects of volatility that may occur between now and March 2019 when (IF) the UK is set to leave the European Union.

Uncertainty is always a catalyst for lower prices, whichever market it is. There’s a lot of uncertainty right now, in the USA, in the UK, in Europe and also in Asia. The whole thing feels like it’s on a knife edge, waiting for something (anything) to rescue it.

It could go either way. Some bad news could trigger more sell offs (likely). However, some good news which clears uncertainty could see a sharp rise on relief of the situation.

Which way are you placing your bets?

from http://www.livecharts.co.uk/livewire/2018/12/ftse-dax-still-weak-moving-into-end-of-year/