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Gold Price Forecast: XAU/USD drops to fresh two-month low near $1,940 after US data

  • Gold price came under renewed bearish pressure on Thursday.
  • First-quarter US GDP growth revised higher to 1.3%. 
  • 10-year US Treasury bond yield is up more than 1% near 3.8%.

Gold price turned south and dropped to its weakest level since late March slightly below $1,945 on Thursday before staging a modest rebound. As of writing, XAU/USD was down 0.55% on the day at $1,945.

US yields rise on strong data

The US Bureau of Economic Analysis announced that it revised the annualized Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for the first quarter to 1.3% from the advance estimate of 1.1%. Additionally, the US Department of Labor's weekly report revealed that there were 229,000 initial claims for unemployment benefits in the week ending May 20, much lower than the market expectation of 245,000.

Boosted by the upbeat macroeconomic data releases, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield gained nearly 1% and reached 3.8% for the first time since the second week of March, weighing on the inversely-correlated XAU/USD.

According to the CME Group FedWatch Tool, markets are currently pricing in a less than 60% probability of the US Federal Reserve leaving its policy rate unchanged in June, compared to nearly 80% earlier this week.

Later in the session, April Pending Home Sales and Kansas Fed Manufacturing Activity data for May will be featured in the US economic docket. Investors will continue to pay close attention to fresh developments surrounding the debt-limit negotiations as well.

Technical levels to watch for

XAU/USD

Overview
Today last price1943.69
Today Daily Change-13.42
Today Daily Change %-0.69
Today daily open1957.11
 
Trends
Daily SMA202001.08
Daily SMA501992.02
Daily SMA1001933.1
Daily SMA2001828.59
 
Levels
Previous Daily High1985.3
Previous Daily Low1956.79
Previous Weekly High2022.18
Previous Weekly Low1952.01
Previous Monthly High2048.75
Previous Monthly Low1949.83
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%1967.68
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%1974.41
Daily Pivot Point S11947.5
Daily Pivot Point S21937.89
Daily Pivot Point S31918.99
Daily Pivot Point R11976.01
Daily Pivot Point R21994.91
Daily Pivot Point R32004.52

Author

Eren Sengezer

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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