Gold: а review of the market situation

Gold prices declined markedly, while returning to a session low, which was triggered by rising US stock indices and recovery of the dollar index.

Yesterday the precious metal fell to the lowest since December 1, and recorded its eighth-session decline in a row, which is the longest series since March 2009. This was largely due to the increase in the dollar to a 12-year high against the euro, the ECB launched a program QE, but US data increased the likelihood of an earlier rate hike. "It's very hard after unemployment data go to the" bull "market relative to gold," - said a trader in Hong Kong. According to him, now investors send funds to other tools that can bring more profits.

The course of today's trading is also affected US data. It is learned that retail sales in the US fell the third consecutive month in February, which was partly due to the bad weather in various parts of the country. But it is also a sign of continuing caution among American households, despite the improvement in the labor market and lower gasoline prices. Sales in retail stores and restaurants decreased by 0.6% last month and amounted to a seasonally adjusted $ 437 billion., Said the Ministry of Commerce. Retail sales fell 0.8% in January and 0.9% in December. Falling gasoline prices contributed to the decline in retail sales in recent months. But little growth has raised total sales in February. Except for purchases at gas stations, retail sales fell by 0.8% last month. At the same time, the automotive sector was the biggest driver of growth in overall retail sales last month. Except of motor vehicles, sales fell slightly more than 0.1% in February after falling 1.1% in January. Except for gasoline and car sales fell 0.2% last month. Economists had expected overall sales will grow by 0.5% in February.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department said that initial jobless claims fell by 36,000 to a seasonally adjusted 289,000 in the week ended March 7 on Thursday. Economists had expected 317,000 new claims. The level of the previous week was revised up to 325 000 hits, while initially reported 320 000. Applications in the week to February 28 were the highest since May 2014. Moving average of four weeks for applications that aligns weekly volatility, fell by 3,750 to 302,250 last week. The report showed that the number of people continuing to receive unemployment benefits fell by 5,000 to 2.42 million in the week ended February 28th.

According to the calculations Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao, as gold prices have been the level of support $ 1156, they can return to its lowest level in November 2014 $ 1,131.85.

April futures price of gold on the COMEX today fell to 1150.30 dollars per ounce.