Gold fell 0.48% to $4,716, after touching $4,664, as higher US Treasury yields weighed on prices and trading hovered near $4,700. The US 10-year yield rose nearly 4.5 basis points to 4.349%, pushing gold to an eight-day low.<\/p>\n
Middle East developments continued, including reports that Iran\u2019s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf resigned from the negotiating team, and that Israel was on alert for a possible restart of fighting by the end of the week. The Strait of Hormuz remained shut, with the US and Iran continuing to seize ships, while WTI crude rose on the Ghalibaf headline.<\/p>\n
US data showed jobless claims rose by 214K versus 212K expected. S&P Global\u2019s April flash PMIs strengthened, with Manufacturing up from 52.3 to 54 and Services up from 49.8 to 51.3, both above forecasts.<\/p>\n
Market pricing shifted, with the swaps market moving from expecting at least two 25-basis-point Federal Reserve cuts in early 2026 to forecasting rates held steady, with a first cut seen at the July 2027 meeting. Friday\u2019s focus is the final April University of Michigan consumer sentiment reading.<\/p>\n
Technically, gold traded near the 100- and 20-day SMAs at $4,723 and $4,706, with potential support levels at $4,650, $4,600, and $4,549, and resistance at $4,800, the 50-day SMA at $4,876, and $4,900.<\/p>\n
Given the jump in Treasury yields to over 4.3%, the immediate pressure on gold is clearly to the downside. Last week’s stronger-than-expected S&P Global PMIs show the US economy remains resilient, reducing the immediate need for safe-haven assets. This economic strength is currently outweighing the persistent geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
We see that the market has aggressively pushed back expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut until mid-2027, a dramatic shift. This move was solidified after the March 2026 CPI report came in hot at 3.8%, reminding the Fed of the inflation battle we saw back in 2022 and 2023. Derivative traders should therefore consider positioning for further weakness in gold, as the high opportunity cost of holding a non-yielding asset will likely persist.<\/p>\n
The technical picture supports a bearish stance, with gold now trading below its key 20- and 100-day moving averages. Last week’s Commitment of Traders report already showed a reduction in net-long positions from hedge funds for the first time in six weeks, suggesting some professional money is starting to take profits. A decisive break below the $4,650 level could trigger a new wave of selling toward the $4,600 mark.<\/p>\n
However, we must remain vigilant about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, which has pushed WTI crude oil prices above $115 a barrel. An escalation there could quickly shift the narrative back to inflation hedging and safe-haven demand, causing a sharp reversal. Therefore, using put options to define risk or employing bearish credit spreads might be more prudent than outright shorting futures.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gold slips to $4,716 as yields rise; Mideast tensions, strong PMIs shift Fed cuts outlook, supports watched.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"josephine","author_link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/author\/josephine\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET","POST","PUT","PATCH","DELETE"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45753\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}