(Kitco News) - Talk about indecision. Talk about this week’s Kitco News gold survey.
Wall Street and Main Street alike are both nearly evenly divided on whether respondents see prices moving higher or lower next week.
The metal tumbled this week when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested soft inflation readings may be temporary, thus sounding more hawkish than expected. The metal reclaimed some of its losses on Friday despite monthly jobs report showing that U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by 263,000 in April, with analysts suggesting some of the details of the report show that wage growth was not picking up despite the solid headline number.
Twelve market professionals took part in the Wall Street survey. There were four voters each – or 33% -- for higher, lower and sideways.
Meanwhile, 475 respondents took part in an online Main Street poll. A total of 207 voters, or 44%, called for gold to fall. Another 205, or 43%, predicted gold would rise. The remaining 63 voters, or 13%, saw a sideways market.
Wall Street
33%
33%VS
Main Street
43%44%In the last survey, Main Street and Wall Street were both bullish on gold for the current week. As of 11:15 a.m. EDT, Comex June gold futures were trading down 0.5% for the week so far at $1,282.30 an ounce.
Charlie Nedoss, senior market strategist with LaSalle Futures Group, is among those looking for gold to rise.
“We held onto the 200-day average [during a recent downdraft],” he said, adding that the market formed a double-bottom over the last two trading days. Further, Nedoss added, gold is back above the 10-day average around $1,279.70.
Jim Wyckoff, senior technical analyst with Kitco, looks for gold to be steady to higher. He said the “market became technically overdone on the downside and is due for an upside correction in a downtrend. But don’t expect big upside price action. The market needs a geopolitical jolt to invigorate the gold market bulls.”
Sean Lusk, director of commercial hedging with Walsh Trading, figures gold will benefit from the Federal Reserve’s reluctance to hike interest rates despite robust economic data. This comes at a time when central banks keep buying gold.
“I think the path of least resistance is higher here,” he said.
Meanwhile, Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management, looks for prices to retreat. “Gold remains in a downtrend and the U.S. dollar continues to climb,” he said.
Kevin Grady, president of Phoenix Futures and Options, also described himself as bearish.
“As I’ve been saying for the past few weeks, gold cannot hold any sort of rally,” he said. “We are finding support on the 200-day moving average at $1267.40. We have held that area twice. The 100 DMA and 50 DMA just crossed to the downside. I believe gold will break the 200 DMA. I am a seller of rallies.”
By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com
