Heading For The Biggest Weekly Loss In Eight Months

Gold has remained relatively stable during the Asia-Pac session, following a decline of -0.5% to $1865.03 on Thursday. It's worth noting that despite the USD index reversing its substantial Wednesday gains and US Treasuries experiencing a rally, there was surprisingly limited relief in bullion selling.

• Gold is headed for its biggest weekly decline in eight months, with the higher-for-longer interest rate environment taking its toll on the precious metal.
• US Treasuries finished at or near session bests, with yields 2-8bps lower. The 10-year yield climbed to a new 16-year high in a volatile morning session on heavy volume. US data was mixed. Weekly Claims printed lower than expected (204k vs. 215k est), but the GDP Price Index was lower than expected (1.7% vs. 2.0% est), Personal Consumption missed (0.8% vs. 1.7% est) and Pending Home Sales were below estimates (-7.1% vs. -1.0% est).
• Exchange-traded funds backed by the metal have accelerated sales of bullion. A particularly large outflow came from Blackrock’s iShares Gold Trust, which has shed 13 tons of gold this week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
• From a technical standpoint, Thursday’s low of $1857.76 saw the yellow metal push through the latest support at $1865.8 (76.4% retrace of Feb 28 – May 4 bull leg), with $1839.0 (50% retrace of the same move) up next, according to MNI’s technical team.