Oil Returns to Range, Gold Crushed by Hawkish Powell
2023.03.08 09:44
Back into range
Just as prices appeared to be gathering momentum, Powell ended the hopes of a breakout on Tuesday and sent them back to the middle of their recent range. Optimism over the Chinese recovery is one thing, but if large parts of the global economy are going to stall or go into recession, oil prices are going to struggle to surge higher. Barring, of course, interventions on the supply side which we’ve heard relatively little about recently. Once more, the jobs report on Friday could be a major driver of sentiment over the short term.
Holding near-key support
This is probably going to be one of the most hotly anticipated job reports in some time, and it could have significant consequences across various asset classes. Gold is always very sensitive to developments on this front, and that will be especially true after Powell’s comments.
His comments on Tuesday crushed and may be sensitive to them again today. But it’s also now vulnerable to Friday if things don’t go its way, with it now lingering close to $1,800, the upper end of a big support region that, if broken, could signal troubling times ahead.
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