Breaking: Gold price breaks above $1,700 amid growing coronavirus conerns

Yohay Elam FXStreet

The price of gold has been extending its gains at the beginning of the new week in Asia. XAU/USD has reached a high of $1,700.32 at the time of writing.

Growing concerns about coronavirus, especially in Italy, have triggered safe-haven flows toward the precious metal. The eurozone's third-largest country announced severe travel limits in several northern provinces including where 16 million people live, including Milan. The death toll from the virus has climbed from 233 to 366.

Investors fear damage to the US economy, with PIMCO foreseeing an outright recession. The crash in oil prices is not helpful either.

Above $1,700, the next target is $1,720. The all-time high is above $1,900 and is from 2011. Support awaits at the previous seven-year peak of $1,690.

Here is how the move looks on the daily chart:

More Gold Price Forecast: Logs biggest Weekly Gain Since February 2016, focus on coronavirus-related developments

Author

Yohay Elam

FXStreet

Yohay is in Forex since 2008 when he founded Forex Crunch, a blog crafted in his free time that turned into a fully-fledged currency website later sold to Finixio.

GBP/USD flirts with tops near 1.3470

GBP/USD manages to regain composure and challenge the area of daily highs around 1.3470 on Friday. Cable picks up pace despite marginal gains in the Greenback in a context of swelling geopolitical tensions and rising global oil prices.

EUR/USD trims losses, back above 1.1500

EUR/USD picks up some pace and bouces off earlier lows, reclaiming the 1.1500 threshold and beyond at the end of the week. The pair’s modest pullback follows a persistent risk-averse market mood and renewed buying interest for the US Dollar.

Gold: The $4,000 mark holds the downside for now

Gold faces renewed selling pressure, falling sharply toweard the $4,000 mark per troy ounce as the US Dollar regains momentum. Escalating US-Iran tensions are keeping inflation concerns and expectations of further Fed rate hikes alive, weighing further on the yellow metal.

Bitcoin eyes 50-day EMA breakout, Ethereum consolidates, XRP steadies

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple trade near key technical levels on Friday as the broader cryptocurrency market pauses following last week's recovery. BTC is approaching the 50-day Exponential Moving Average while ETH continues to consolidate between two major EMAs.

Warsh needs to restore his reputation

We were glad to see our deeply negative reaction to the Warsh press conference was not some personal peculiarity. Just about everybody in the financial press felt the same way. The consensus is building it’s not the Fed in the dog-house but only Warsh. Today the WSJ changed it tune and blasted Warsh—"the honeymoon is already over..”

9-3: Is the Federal Reserve’s vote tally Warsh's new forward guidance?

The rate did not move. Neither did the statement, and that’s the more interesting fact. Set the July 29 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement beside the one issued on June 17, and the two documents are identical apart from a single verb and a paragraph at the bottom naming three dissenters.