Should USD bulls stay in the game, gold may challenge the $2,000 mark in the near term
Wall Street stocks enjoyed a rally on Friday, returning to record heights after a bearish start for the year. The S&P 500 rose 1.23% to surpass the prior record closing high seen two years ago. The Dow Jones added 1.05%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.7% to notch a two-year closing high. For the week, the S&P 500 was up 1.2%, the Dow gained 0.7%, and the Nasdaq jumped 2.3%. The tech sector gained more than 2.3% on Friday and over 4% during the week. In individual stocks, Apple rose 1.55% as the company launched preorders of its new Apple Vision Pro.
Meanwhile, the US dollar edged lower ahead of the weekend after three days of gains in a row. The USD index encountered a local resistance around 103.70 earlier in the week to correct slightly lower eventually. During the retreat, the greenback stayed above the 103.00 figure that represents the immediate support at this stage. Should fresh economic data out of the US surprise to the upside this week, the dollar may resume the ascent as Fed rate cut expectations will continue to ebb. On the upside, the nearest target now arrives at 103.55.
Elsewhere, gold prices extended a bounce from more than one-month lows registered during the week. The precious metal found support just above the $2,000 psychological level to rebound to the $2,030 zone ahead of the weekend. Buyers were spooked by the 20-DMA that turned into resistance during the recent slide. As such, the bullion is now stuck between the 20- and 55-DMAs, deciding on further direction that would be set by fresh economic signals from the US in the coming days. Should USD bulls stay in the game, XAUUSD may challenge the $2,000 mark in the near term.
In other markets, bitcoin saw the second bearish week in a row, albeit the selling pressure was limited. The BTCUSD pair extended its gradual slide from more than two-year highs as the hype around SEC’s bitcoin ETF approval kept abating. As such, the digital coin briefly slipped to the $40,300 zone before bouncing back above the $41,000 figure that now represents the nearest support. Should risk sentiment in the global financial markets deteriorate in the near-term, BTС may extend its slide, with $40,000 psychological level staying in the market focus.