Gold prices at the close of trading today, Wednesday, December 6, 2023 – the seventh day

Global market developments:

Gold prices are witnessing fluctuations during trading today, Wednesday, after two days of losses that brought gold back to the levels of 2020 dollars per ounce after the historical level that was recorded in the first minutes of this week’s trading, while the markets are awaiting the US jobs data this week to know the future of the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.

Spot gold prices are trading at the time of writing the Gold Billion technical report at the level of $2023 per ounce, after recording the highest level at $2035 per ounce. It had declined yesterday and recorded the lowest level at $2009 per ounce.

Yesterday, data showed that job openings in the United States fell to their lowest levels in more than two and a half years in October at 8.73 million compared to the previous reading of 9.35 million, indicating that rising interest rates are weakening demand for labor.

However, this weak data failed to weaken the levels of the US dollar, which rose yesterday and recorded the highest level in two weeks according to the dollar index, which rose since the beginning of the week by 0.7% after suffering a decline for three consecutive weeks during which the index recorded the lowest level in 4 months.

US interest rate futures forecasts show that markets are pricing in a more than 50% probability that the Fed will start cutting interest rates by March 2024. Futures also indicated a more than 90% probability that the Fed will keep interest rates steady at its meeting next week.

The Fed has not given such a signal yet, stating that interest rates will remain at their high levels for a longer period, unless there is a further clear decline in inflation. US inflation remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% annual target while the labor market remains relatively strong.

This week, the markets are awaiting the jobs report, which will be released next Friday, which witnesses expectations of 185,000 new jobs recorded in November, compared to 150,000 jobs in October.

It is expected that the fluctuation in global gold prices will continue between the levels of 2010 and 2035 dollars per ounce until the release of the US jobs report data this week, while next week will be the US Federal Reserve meeting, which will clarify the update of the bank’s monetary policy after many economic data that changed the trends of the markets during the past weeks since the meeting. The former Federal Reserve in early November.

On the other hand, gold is losing some support during the current period since recording the highest historical level at the beginning of this week, especially after the credit rating agency Moody’s lowered its outlook for China’s credit rating from stable to negative amid weak economic growth expectations and problems in the real estate sector in the country.

Moody’s currently rates China’s sovereign debt at A1, and the agency expects China’s economic growth to slow to 4% of annual GDP in 2024 and 2025.

The news regarding China had a mixed impact on the gold markets. On the one hand, its impact is positive from the point of view that the second largest economy in the world is facing some credit problems that affect economic growth.

There is a negative impact resulting from the weakness of the Chinese economy meaning reduced demand from the largest gold consuming country. Therefore, the news did not clearly affect the gold market, and traders preferred to focus on the US jobs data released this week and its impact on the dollar and thus on gold.