Gold is stable on Wednesday, as the spot price stands at $1196 per ounce. On the release front, there are a host of key US events ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. These include Core Durable Goods Orders, Unemployment Claims, UoM Consumer Sentiment and New Homes Sales.
US economic growth continues to rack up impressive numbers, posting an excellent gain of 3.9% in Q3, well above the estimate of 3.3%. This followed a gain in Q2 of 4.2%, which also beat the estimate. This was the strongest two-quarter performance since 2003, and has raised expectations about the Fed raising rates in the first half of 2014. The other key release, Consumer Confidence, was unexpectedly soft, dropping to 88.7 points. This was well off the estimate of 95.9 points.
German confidence indicators continue to point upwards. Ifo Business Climate rose to 104.7 points in November. Importantly, this reading snapped a streak of six straight declines. ZEW Economic Sentiment jumped 11.5 points, crushing the estimate of 0.9 points. This strong optimism is somewhat puzzling, given that inflation and growth levels in the Eurozone’s largest economy remain weak. At the same time, increasing confidence in the German economy could translate into stronger German numbers, which would help boost the ailing Eurozone.
XAU/USD 1198.54 H: 1201.29 L: 1195.08
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