Tag: DXY

  • Gold: $4,500 Holds as a Base, Opening the Way to $5,000

    Expect a wave of higher gold-price forecasts to dominate headlines in the near future, while the metal continues to rebuild positions along the way. Not because strategists have suddenly become bullish, but because the market itself is forcing a reassessment. Price action has led. Positioning is simply following the trend. Conviction, as always, comes last.

    Gold did not merely break through $4,500. It paused, consolidated, and is now poised to resume its advance once the current round of technically driven profit-taking fades. This has never been a momentum-driven rally. Instead, it has unfolded through a steady sequence of advances, orderly consolidations, and renewed accumulation.

    Each pullback has drawn in fresh buyers rather than triggering forced liquidation—an unmistakable feature of a durable trend. Viewed through that lens, $4,800 appears less like an ambitious bank upgrade and more like the next logical level of support. $5,000 is no longer a distant target; it is increasingly taking on a structural character.

    The primary force behind this move is monetary gravity. As the Federal Reserve progresses further into its easing cycle, the traditional opportunity-cost argument against holding gold continues to weaken. Gold does not require aggressive rate cuts—it only needs persistent uncertainty around real returns. When policy becomes conditional and forward guidance loses clarity, gold becomes a place where capital waits rather than withdraws.

    The White House–backed shift toward more dovish Fed leadership is therefore important, not for political reasons but for its mechanical implications. Questioning central bank independence may be the most underpriced risk in the gold market today, and markets will adjust accordingly. They trade anticipated reaction functions, not individual personalities.

    A clearer shift toward policy accommodation is reshaping expectations about both the depth and duration of easing. That adjustment filters through real yields, term premia, and currency assumptions—and gold tends to react well before these changes are fully reflected in interest-rate markets.

    The second force is structural demand, which is where the rebuilding becomes self-reinforcing. For the first time since the mid-1990s, gold has surpassed U.S. Treasuries as a share of global central-bank reserves. This is not cyclical accumulation; it is balance-sheet reallocation. Reserve managers are reducing concentration risk in a system that feels increasingly politicized and less predictable. Demand of this kind does not fade on pullbacks—it intensifies.

    ETF flows and private capital then follow, adding exposure gradually rather than chasing price surges.

    Geopolitics provides the backdrop rather than the trigger. Venezuela is not the catalyst—it is the reminder. Energy security, trade frictions, and political alignment are no longer episodic shocks; they are enduring conditions. Gold performs well in such an environment because it does not require crisis to justify ownership. It thrives on the steady build-up of uncertainty, encouraging investors to maintain positions and rebuild as volatility subsides.

    The U.S. dollar completes the feedback loop. Its near double-digit decline over the past year reflects more than a typical cycle; it points to a subtle reassessment of dollar primacy. Capital is no longer assuming permanence. Gold naturally absorbs that hesitation, functioning less as an inflation hedge and more as balance-sheet insurance. Dollar strength tends to stall gold; dollar weakness reignites it. The cadence itself invites repeated re-entry.

    What lends credibility to this cycle is that gold is not moving in isolation. Silver has already repriced on the back of genuine supply constraints layered onto sustained industrial demand. Copper, now at record levels, is not a product of speculative excess—it reflects the physical market asserting itself. Aluminum and nickel echo the same signal more quietly. Together, they point to a broader shift across metals, with gold at the core.

    In simple terms, gold is likely to keep rebuilding positions throughout the year because the market structure supports it. Rallies are absorbed rather than rejected. Pullbacks are met with demand, not fear. Analysts will continue to raise their targets because price action is already pulling them in that direction.

    $5,000 is not an audacious forecast. It represents the market sketching out a new equilibrium—and repeatedly inviting capital to re-enter, one rebuilt position at a time.

    Sources: Investing

  • The Australian Dollar reaches new 14-month highs, shrugging off easing inflation pressures

    • The Australian Dollar gains ground amid a hawkish outlook on the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).
    • Australia’s CPI slowed to 3.4% year-over-year in November, below expectations but still above the RBA’s target range.
    • Traders now turn their attention to Wednesday’s US ISM Services PMI and JOLTs job openings reports for further market cues.

    The Australian Dollar (AUD) extended its winning streak for the fourth consecutive session on Wednesday, gaining against the US Dollar (USD) despite easing inflation figures for November. Traders are now focused on the upcoming full fourth-quarter inflation report due later this month. Analysts caution that a core inflation increase of 0.9% or more could prompt the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to consider further tightening at its February meeting.

    Meanwhile, the Australian Financial Review (AFR) highlighted that the RBA may not be finished with its rate hikes this cycle. A recent poll suggests inflation is likely to remain persistently high over the coming year, supporting expectations for at least two more rate increases.

    The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported on Wednesday that Australia’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.4% year-over-year (YoY) in November, easing from 3.8% in October. This figure missed market expectations of 3.7% but stayed above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) target range of 2–3%. It marked the lowest inflation rate since August, with housing costs rising at their slowest pace in three months.

    Month-on-month (MoM), Australia’s CPI remained flat at 0% in November, matching October’s reading. Meanwhile, the RBA’s Trimmed Mean CPI increased 0.3% MoM and 3.2% YoY. In a separate report, seasonally adjusted building permits surged 15.2% MoM to a near four-year high of 18,406 units in November 2025, bouncing back from a downwardly revised 6.1% decline the previous month. Annual approvals jumped 20.2%, reversing a revised 1.1% drop in October.

    US Dollar declines ahead of ISM Services PMI

    The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the US Dollar’s value against six key currencies, is slightly declining after posting small gains in the previous session, currently hovering near 98.50. Market participants are awaiting US economic releases that may influence Federal Reserve (Fed) policy outlooks. Later today, attention will be on the ISM Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) and JOLTs job openings data. The upcoming US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report, due Friday, is forecasted to show an increase of 55,000 jobs in December, a decrease from 64,000 in November.

    Fed Governor Stephen Miran stated on Tuesday that the central bank should pursue aggressive interest rate cuts this year to bolster economic growth. Conversely, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari cautioned that unemployment could unexpectedly rise. Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin, who is not voting on this year’s rate decisions, emphasized that rate changes will need to be carefully calibrated to incoming data, pointing to risks affecting both employment and inflation targets, per Reuters.

    According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, futures markets assign roughly an 82.8% chance that the Fed will keep rates steady at the January 27–28 meeting.

    On the geopolitical front, the US launched a significant military strike on Venezuela last Saturday. President Donald Trump announced that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were captured and removed from the country. However, Maduro pleaded not guilty on Monday to US narcotics-terrorism charges, signaling a high-stakes legal confrontation with wide geopolitical consequences, Bloomberg reports.

    Traders anticipate two more Fed rate cuts in 2026. Markets also expect Trump to nominate a new Fed chair to succeed Jerome Powell when his term expires in May, potentially steering monetary policy toward lower rates.

    In China, the Services PMI from RatingDog fell slightly to 52.0 in December from 52.1 in November, while Manufacturing PMI rose to 50.1 from 49.9 the previous month. Given China’s close trade ties with Australia, shifts in the Chinese economy may affect the Australian Dollar.

    The Reserve Bank of Australia’s December meeting minutes revealed readiness to tighten monetary policy further if inflation does not ease as expected. Greater attention is now on the Q4 Consumer Price Index report scheduled for January 28, with analysts warning that a stronger-than-anticipated core inflation figure could prompt a rate hike at the RBA’s February 3 meeting.

    The Australian Dollar has reached new 14-month highs, climbing above the 0.6750 level

    On Wednesday, AUD/USD is trading near 0.6750. Technical analysis of the daily chart shows the pair moving upward within an ascending channel, indicating a continued bullish trend. However, the 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 70 signals that the pair may be overbought.

    Since October 2024, AUD/USD has hit new highs and is now aiming for the upper boundary of the ascending channel around 0.6830.

    Initial support is found at the nine-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) near 0.6708, followed by the lower boundary of the ascending channel at about 0.6700. A drop below this combined support zone could push the pair down toward the 50-day EMA level at approximately 0.6625.

    AUD/USD: Daily Chart

    Sources: Fxstreet