Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD clings to key EMA joint as Fed Chair Powell’s testimony looms

• Gold price remains lackluster ahead of the key weekly event, fades previous day’s retreat.
• Mixed sentiment restricts XAU/USD from cheering softer US Dollar.
• Fed Chair Powell appears before Senate Banking Committee to testify, hopes of dovish outcome underpin Gold price.

Gold price (XAU/USD) portrays the market’s cautious mood as it treads water around the key moving averages during early Tuesday in Europe, close to $1,848 by the press time. In doing so, the precious metal struggles with the mixed catalysts amid anxiety ahead of Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell’s semi-annual testimony before the US Senate Banking Committee.

It’s worth noting that the previous day’s upbeat prints of the US Factory Order for January joined the recent shift into the Fed policymakers’ tones to probe the market players. On the other hand, downbeat prints of Durable Goods Orders, Consumer Confidence and ISM PMIs keep the Fed doves hopeful of confirming the policy pivot chatters.

Elsewhere, an improvement in China’s international trade figures for February joins the hopes of more stimulus from the Communist Party to underpin a positive mood. However, fears of fresh US-China tussles, due to the likely meeting between the officials from the US and Taiwan, as well as amid Beijing’s criticism of Washington’s cold war strategies, join the dovish hopes from Fed Chair Powell to probe the market’s momentum.

While portraying the mood, S&P 500 Futures print mild gains around a two-week high marked the previous day, up 0.15% intraday near 4,060 at the latest. Further, US 10-year Treasury bond yields fade the previous day’s bounce off a one-week low while easing back to 3.95% by the press time.

Looking ahead, dovish expectations from Fed Chair Powell keep the optimists on the table but surprisingly hawkish statements could quickly roil the market sentiment and recall the US Dollar bulls, which in turn can drown the Gold price.

Gold price technical analysis

Gold price remains sidelined as buyers flirt with a convergence of the 21-day and 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) near $1,848.

However, bullish MACD signals and the bullion’s sustained bounce off the 200-day EMA keep the buyers hopeful of crossing the previous day’s top surrounding $1,858.

Following that, the February 09 swing high surrounding $1,890 and the $1,900 threshold could act as the last defenses of the Gold bears.

On the contrary, the metal’s sustained trading below the stated EMA confluence of $1,848 needs validation from the 50% and 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level of the quote’s upside from November 2022 to February 2023, respectively near $1,840 and $1,812.

It’s worth noting that the Gold buyers remain hopeful unless witnessing a clear downside break of the 200-day EMA, close to $1,805 at the latest.

Gold price: Daily chart

Trend: Further upside expected