What’s next? – GOLD, OIL 07.03.17

GOLD
Gold moved between small gains and losses in early hours on Tuesday as investors balanced increasing geopolitical tensions, expectations for a Fed rate hike and upcoming jobs data.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold for April delivery was down 0.02 percent to trade at $1225.20 a troy ounce as of 06:25 GMT.
Overnight, the yellow metal was supported by the launch of four North Korean ballistic missiles near the Japanese coasts, breaking in an exclusive economic zone. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has put the country in high alert and said Japan won’t hesitate to respond in case of a threat.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expected to travel to Japan, South Korea and China later this month to discuss a vast list of topics, including economic relations and North Korea.
Limiting gains were growing expectations of rate hike at the Federal Reserve monetary meeting scheduled on March 14-15. Traders are currently pricing in an 84 percent chance that the FOMC will positively vote on raising benchmark rates.
While everything seems to be in order so far, the Federal Reserve will evaluate the latest reading on employment from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday. In anticipation to official data, ADP will release its nonfarm employment change for February tomorrow at 13:15 GMT. Analysts believe the number of jobs will be less than the previous upbeat 246,000.

OIL
Oil prices showed little change in early Tuesday session as market participants continued to focus in upcoming inventory data and a meeting between Saudi and Russian energy ministers.
Yesterday, Russia and Iraq confirmed that it was too soon to understand whether the OPEC-led output cut should be extended for another six months later this year.
"It will depend on oil prices and market stability. If OPEC decides cuts, then Iraq will cut," said Iraq Oil Minister Jabbar Al-Luaibi at the CERAWeek in Houston, United States..
US West Texas Intermediate oil futures traded at $53.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 0.19 percent from its prior close. The London-based Brent crude oil futures fell 0.29 percent to trade at $55.85 a barrel as of 06:50 GMT.
The American Petroleum Institute will release its weekly stockpiles report this afternoon, a day before the US Energy Information Administration presents official data.
There are still concerns that growing US shale production will undermine OPEC and non-OPEC efforts to reduce global supply levels and return prices to the downside.
In other news, the International Energy Agency has forecasted that US crude production would move to 1.4 million barrels per day by 2022.