Gold Supported After Warning from WHO Chief

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned on Sunday; ‘The detection of a small number of cases may indicate more widespread transmission in other countries; in short we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg.’

He added: ‘In an evolving public health emergency, all countries must step up efforts to prepare for #2019nCoV’s possible arrival and do their utmost to contain it should it arrive. This means lab capacity for rapid diagnosis, contact tracing and other tools in the public health arsenal.’

The death toll from the epidemic has now reached over 900 people in China. Chinese health authorities said on Monday that they received reports of 3,062 new coronavirus cases and 97 deaths on Sunday. Recent cases were also reported in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Spain. Fatalities from the coronavirus in China have now exceeded those of the SARS epidemic, 17 years ago.

Gold is getting closer to the high of $1,611 it reached on January 8th, which was its highest level since 2013. Meanwhile, Bitcoin traded over the major psychological level of $10,000 for the first time since September of 2019 on Sunday and the safe haven Japanese Yen traded higher on Monday.

Investors now look to the Congressional testimony of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, set to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. A Federal Reserve report on Friday said that the coronavirus is a new risk to the U.S. outlook: “The recent emergence of the coronavirus could lead to disruptions in China that spill over to the rest of the global economy.”

Looking at the gold daily chart we can see that price is nearing the recent high of 1,593 while potential trendline support lies to the downside. With price trading above both the 50 and 200 period moving averages, gold bulls are on the front foot.