Gold price rallies while oil & natural gas prices struggle
While gold is moving higher to start the week, oil prices and natural gas prices have seen a more mixed morning of trading.
Gold marches higher
The price is making headway to the upside this morning, building on the strong finish to last week.
Last week saw the price bounce off the 50-day simple moving average (SMA), forming a higher low and reviving the uptrend. Friday saw the price close above trendline resistance from the late-December high, bolstering the bullish short-term narrative.
A close back below $2030 would negate this, while a drop back below the 50-day SMA points towards the possibility of additional short-term weakness.
Surge in Brent crude knocked back
The volatility in crude oil prices continues. Friday witnessed a spike to $80 for Brent, in anticipation of the US/UK military action against the Houthis in Yemen.
However, the spike was short-lived, and the close below the 50-day SMA sends a potentially bearish signal. Sellers now need to follow through on this with a break below $75 that will open the way to the lows of December.
Buyers have been unable to hold on to gains over the past few months, and in the short-term a close above $80 and then the late December high at $81.40 would provide a short-term bullish view.
Natural Gas gaps lower
After the surge from the December lows, the price has hit a road block, slumping back to the 200-day SMA, though leaving the uptrend from the lows of December intact.
A close below 2670 would be needed to break trendline support from mid-December, which would reinforce the view that a lower high has been created. This might then renew the downtrend from early-November and put the lows of late December in play.
Renewed strength targets last week’s highs around 2975, and a close above 3000 marks a fresh bullish development.
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