Price of Gold – Fundamental Forecast, March 17, 2017

April Comex Gold futures are holding steady on extremely low volume early Friday after holding on to gains produced by the Fed’s decision not to increase the pace of monetary tightening after its two-day monetary policy meeting concluded on Wednesday.

The market is in a position to close higher for the week for the first time in three in reaction to the dollar’s drop against a basket of currencies. The June U.S. Dollar Index hit a five-week low as investors continued to react to the Fed’s decision to lift interest rates at a gradual pace.

Over the near-term gold, could continue to be underpinned by concerns over the upcoming French elections and the next U.S. Federal Reserve meeting in May.

In other news on Thursday, weekly jobless claims dropped 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 241,000 for the week ended March 11, according to the Labor Department.

Also on Thursday, the Commerce Department said housing starts rose 3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.3 million.

Weekly building permits came in at 1.21 million units, down from 1.29 millon and also belleo the esimate. The Philly Fed Manufacturing Index also continued to produce gains. Finally, the JOLTS Job Openings rose to 5.63M, up from 5.54.

The start of the G20 meeting could trigger some response by traders on Friday. Additional reports include Capacity Utilization and industrial production.

The major report on Friday is Preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment. The Conference Board is going to report its Leading Index. This is followed by the Labor Market Conditions Index.