Gold Price Prediction – Prices Slide on Dollar Strength

Gold prices moved lower on Thursday as the dollar broke out, as riskier assets whipsawed. The stronger than expected U.S. Jobless claims failed to lift Treasury yields but were able to buoy the greenback. New data about the Delta variant of the COVID-virus appears to be impacting the south of the United States, including states like Florida and Texas.

Technical analysis

Gold prices slipped gain on Thursday failing to recapture resistance near the 20-day moving average at 1,786. Target support is seen near the March lows at 1,677. Short-term momentum has turned negative as the fast stochastic generated crossover sell signal.  Medium-term negative momentum has turned positive as the MACD (moving average convergence divergence) index generated a crossover buy signal. This buy signal occurs as the MACD line (the 12-day moving average minus the 26-day moving average) crosses above the MACD signal line (the 9-day moving average of the MACD line).

Jobless Claims Decline

Jobless claims for unemployment insurance hit a pandemic-era low last week. Jobless claims for the week ended August 14 totaled 348,000, according to the Labor Department. That was below the estimates for claims to fall to 365,000 and a decline of 29,000 from the previous week. Continuing claims also fell, dropping to 2.82 million on a 79,000 decline from the week before.