What’s next? – GOLD, OIL 11.04.18

GOLD

Gold futures traded moderately lower in Asian hours on Wednesday, with market participants awaiting key data releases later in the session.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures were down 0.06 percent at $1.345.10 a troy ounce as of 06:45 GMT.

On Tuesday, the precious metal held to green territory on the back of a weaker greenback and heightened geopolitical tensions as investors awaited Trump’s decision on Syria.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced on Tuesday that President Donald Trump will not be attending the 8th Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru and neither he will visit Colombia as originally planned for these dates.

“[The President] will remain in the United States to oversee the American response to Syria.”

The administration insists that a military option is still on the table as a possible response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria conducted by Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

“We have a lot of options, militarily. And we'll be letting you know pretty soon," President Trump said to a group of journalists on Monday.

The US dollar index, which gauges the greenback against six major currencies, was trading 0.10 percent higher at 89.62 by the time of this writing.

Dollar-denominated gold is very sensitive to moves in the American currency. A weaker dollar makes the yellow metal more attractive for investors holding foreign currencies.

Market players continued to weigh developments over the trade dispute between China and the United States. China’s president Xi Jinping has recently adopted a reconciliatory tone that calm investors around the world as he announced reduction on import tariffs for vehicles, measures to encourage imports and more severe controls in the protection of intellectual property.

Ahead in the day, the consumer price index for March is coming at 12:30 GMT, while the Federal Budget Balance will be out at 18:00 GMT.

OIL

Oil prices were lower in early trading hours on Wednesday as investors opted to take profits after a sharp rally in the previous session as attention turns to official inventory data.

The US West Texas Intermediate crude contracts were down 0.29 percent to $65.32 per barrel as of 07:30 GMT. Meanwhile, Brent futures dropped 0.44 percent to $70.73 a barrel.

Crude prices settled higher on Tuesday as market participants expect US military action in Syria to create supply disruptions in the Middle East.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced on Tuesday that President Donald Trump will not be attending the 8th Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru and neither he will visit Colombia as originally planned for these dates.

“[The President] will remain in the United States to oversee the American response to Syria.”

The administration insists that a military option is still on the table as a possible response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria conducted by Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Contributing to the positive sentiment were easing commercial tensions between the world’s two biggest economies: China and the United States.

On Tuesday, China’s president Xi Jinping announced lower import tariffs for vehicles, a series of measures to encourage imports and further controls to protect intellectual property.

In other news, news agency Bloomberg said Saudi Arabia is allegedly targeting oil quotes of $80 per barrel to boost the valuation of the state-owned Aramco.

Capping gains was the monthly report by the Energy Information Administration released on Tuesday. The document showed an averaged 10.4 million barrels per day in March, 260,000 bp more from the February level.

Today, investors will be looking at official crude and refined products inventories at 14:30 GMT.

FortFS