A Little Below Six-Week Highs; $1,800/oz Eyed Ahead Of U.S. CPI

Gold sits little changed to print $1,794/oz at typing, maintaining a tight ~$4/oz range throughout Asia-Pac dealing so far. The precious metal operates a little below six-week highs made on Tuesday, pausing a two-day streak of higher daily closes, with the U.S. CPI print later today taking focus for the space.

• To recap Tuesday’s price action, gold pared gains after briefly showing above $1,800/oz, ultimately closing ~$5/oz firmer, erasing all of its post-NFP losses in the process. The move higher takes gold to its highest daily close since July 5, aided by a drift lower in the USD (DXY) from its own cycle highs (above 109.00) since mid-July.
• Elsewhere, bullion continues to receive support from elevated Sino-U.S. tensions surrounding Taiwan, adding to prevailing, well-documented recession-related worry (particularly in Europe and the U.S.).
• Sep FOMC dated OIS now price in ~70bp of tightening for that meeting ahead of the U.S. CPI print later today, sitting around their highest levels since last Friday’s NFP print (was ~58bp pre-NFP).
• From a technical perspective, gold has assumed a firmer tone in recent sessions, and briefly broke through trendline resistance at $1,797.1/oz, potentially exposing further resistance at $1,825.1 (Jun 30 high). On the other hand, support is located at $1,759.5/oz (20-Day EMA).