GOLD raced to $1624 during the US session after the release of a weak US retail sales figure before paring some gains to open this morning at $1618. The latest retail sales figure is pointing to a 0.2% decline in May, the lowest level seen in two years. This combines with a revised-down April figure, a surprisingly weak PPI and more importantly the latest weak non-farm payroll number to raise investors' expectation of imminent quantitative easing by the Fed next week. Although both gold and euro rose yesterday, we saw different paces on the hourly chart. The bullion's correlation with the euro and other markets is still weak in as technical traders dominate the scene. We continue to expect selling pressure along the trend resistance around $1630, a level around where traders may build short positions to target sub-1600 and stop loss above $1640. However we won't suggest traders to keep positions open ahead of this weekend's Greek election.

Compass Direction

Short-Term    Medium-Term

NEUTRAL       BEARISH

Gold

3rd Support2nd Support1st SupportSPOT1st Resistance2nd Resistance3rd Resistance
$1,520$1,530$1,578$1,618$1,631$1,671$1,700