Precious metals continued to rally throughout the day on Friday as the USD weakened and crude oil rallied. The dovish FOMC report continues to impact our market as speculative short positions were covered before the weekend at the same time as now longs were entering the market. Physical demand was steady at the higher price points with silver leading the charge higher. If you believe like I do that the U.S. economy is still not out of the woods and remains on shaky legs despite the growth in payrolls and drop in unemployment rate, then you also suspect that the USD will continue to weaken through the spring and perhaps longer. The weakening USD will of course support gold and silver and just perhaps we will look back and say the recent dips below $1,150.00 gold and $15.50 silver were indeed buying opportunities. Slow and steady are just not the way for silver and the move I talked about in Friday’s commentary, calling for a run into the spread between the 50 and 100-day moving averages, happened all in one day as silver rallied over 80 cents.
Barring any geo-political news, the direction of all markets appear to be tied to the USD’s intra-day reaction to U.S. economic data. In the short term, gold support should be expected from $1,175.00 through $1,165.00. A break below $1,1650.00 likely means the USD is again in rally mode and sub-$1,150.00 can be expected. Gold is likely to face resistance as we approach $1,200.00 from producer selling, but a break above $1,200.00 should see us testing resistance between $1,225.00 through $1,240.00. Silver support should be strong as we approach $16.50 while a break above $17.00 should bring us a look at $17.40 – $17.50.