Gold above USD 2250 after a strong start to the week

The background to today’s price movements so far in Asia, have been an inflation report from the US on Friday along with comments from Federal Reserve Chair Powell. The wrap is here:

Forexlive Americas FX news wrap: Powell says PCE report “pretty much in line”

Notably from it:

• Powell himself struck me as incrementally more hawkish, though he did say that today’s PCE report was “pretty much in line with our expectations” and “good to see”. At the same time, he said the Fed wants to see more inflation reports like last year, which indicates it’s not enough.

Further context was given by signs of further improvement in China’s economy from the March P{MI released over the weekend:

• China March 2024 Official Manufacturing PMI 50.8 (expected 50.1) Services 53.0 (exp 51.5)
• ICYMI – China’s March 2024 manufacturing PMI jumped to its highest in a year

Now, whether the Friday data, Powell, and China net benefit the case for sooner or later rate cuts gold doesn;t seem to car. Iys surged again during the opening session of the week, basically one way traffic higher:

Chalk this one up as a win for the gold bugs.

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.