Mild gains for gold as FOMC meeting begins

(Kitco News) – Gold prices are modestly up and silver slightly down in near midday Tuesday. The precious metals are not straying too far from unchanged as the Federal Reserve’s monetary-policy-setting meeting got under way today. Safe-haven bids amid the Israel-Hamas war and the potential for a wider Middle East conflict are keeping a floor under gold and silver prices at present. December gold was last up $2.30 at $2,007.80. December silver was last down $0.101 at $23.305.

Focus this week is on central bank meetings of the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan. The Fed’s FOMC meeting began Tuesday morning and ends Wednesday afternoon with a statement and press conference from Fed Chairman Powell. Most of the marketplace expects the FOMC to pause in its interest-rate-increase cycle. Later this week comes the U.S. employment situation report for October.

Japan’s central bank overnight left its monetary policy unchanged but said it will “patiently continue monetary easing” until the BOJ achieves stable 2% inflation.

Asian and European stocks were mixed overnight. U.S. stock indexes are slightly up near midday.

In other news, reports said the World Gold Council says central bank gold-buying surged to 800 tons in the first nine months of this year and could hit a record in 2023. If the central bankers are indeed the so-called “smart money” in the marketplace, then the retail gold bulls should be feeling pretty good.

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index solidly higher. Nymex crude oil prices are firmer and trading around $82.75 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark U.S. Treasury 10-year note is presently fetching around 4.8%.

Technically, December futures gold bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a four-week-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $2,050.00. Bears’ next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,950.00. First resistance is seen at last week’s high of $2,019.70 and then at the July high of $2,028.60. First support is seen at $2,000.00 and then at $1,986.40. Wyckoff’s Market Rating: 6.5.

December silver futures bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. A four-week-old price uptrend is in place on the daily bar chart. Silver bulls’ next upside price objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $24.05. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $22.00. First resistance is seen at this week’s high of $23.75 and then at the October high of $23.88. Next support is seen at $23.00 and then at last week’s low of $22.565. Wyckoff’s Market Rating: 6.0.

December N.Y. copper closed down 160 points at 364.25 cents today. Prices closed nearer the session low today. The copper bears have the overall near-term technical advantage. However, a choppy, three-month-old downtrend on the daily bar chart has been negated. Copper bulls’ next upside price objective is pushing and closing prices above solid technical resistance at 378.60 cents. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid technical support at 350.00 cents. First resistance is seen at this week’s high of 371.00 cents and then at 375.00 cents. First support is seen at today’s low of 363.15 cents and then at 360.00 cents. Wyckoff’s Market Rating: 2.5.