(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are firmer in midday U.S. trading Thursday, as bullish traders stepped in to buy the early dip in prices and do some bargain hunting. February gold was last up $8.10 at $1,813.90 and March Comex silver was last up $0.222 at $23.08 an ounce.
Global stock markets were mostly firmer overnight. U.S. stock indexes are slightly higher at midday, and are at or near their record highs. Look for lower-volume trading the last two days of 2021. Risk aversion is not keen late this week, but neither is risk appetite. The U.S. has just recorded its highest number of Covid cases ever as the Omicron variant rages. Still, the marketplace is viewing Covid as “serious but manageable” given the vaccines and other drugs to battle the virus.
Other “back-burner” matters that traders and investors are monitoring include China’s crackdown on democracy in Taiwan and Russia’s troop buildup on the Ukrainian border. Both situations could quickly escalate into major geopolitical crises.
Investment bank JP Morgan has forecast the price of gold in the fourth quarter of 2022 at $1,520 an ounce. These bigshot banks’ commodity market forecasts are usually wrong, and by a good measure. I’ll take the other side of that JP Morgan trade and predict gold prices in 4Q 2022 will be higher than present levels. Reason: I believe price inflation will become much more problematic in 2022 and the Federal Reserve won’t be able to do much about it. That scenario would be bad news for paper assets like stocks and bonds, but good news for hard assets like the metals.
The key “outside markets” today see Nymex crude oil prices higher and trading around $77.00 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index is firmer today. Meantime, the yield on the U.S. Treasury 10-year note is presently fetching 1.529%--up significantly from earlier this week.
![Live 24 hours gold chart [Kitco Inc.]](https://www.kitco.com/images/live/gold.gif?0.2924175530478188){kind=small}
Technically, February gold futures bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at $1,840.00. Bears' next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,775.00. First resistance is seen at $1,815.70 and then at this week’s high of $1,821.30. First support is seen at $1,800.00 and then at this week’s low of $1,789.10. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 6.0.
![Live 24 hours silver chart [ Kitco Inc. ]](https://www.kitco.com/images/live/silver.gif)
The March silver bears have the overall near-term technical advantage. Recent upside price action suggests a market bottom is in place. Silver bulls' next upside price objective is closing December futures prices above solid technical resistance at $24.00 an ounce. The next downside price objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the December low of $21.41. First resistance is seen at Wednesday’s high of $23.185 and then at this week’s high of $23.48. Next support is seen at this week’s low of $22.60 and then at $22.44. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 3.5.
