Federal Reserve bias turns bleak

Downbeat prints of the United States Weekly Initial Jobless Claims and comments from Richmond Federal Reserve (Fed) President Thomas Barkin seemed to have weighed on the US Dollar during the initial Thursday.

Fed’s Barkin appeared too dovish while suggesting rate cuts as he said that it would make sense for the Fed to steer "more deliberately" from here due to lagged effects of policy. Previously, Fed Chair Jerome Powell hesitated in cheering the upbeat US jobs report and raised fears of no more hawkish moves from the US central bank.

That said, the US Weekly Initial Jobless Claims rose to 196K versus 190K expected and 183K prior. “The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending January 28 was 1,688,000, an increase of 38,000 from the previous week's revised level," said the US Department of Labor (DOL) showed on Thursday.

Gold price technical analysis

Gold price extends pullback from the 200-bar Simple Moving Average (SMA) following its unsuccessful bounce off a seven-week-old bullish channel’s support line.

The XAU/USD downside also justifies the recent slump in the Relative Strength Index (RSI) line, placed at 14, as well as the looming bear cross on the Moving Average Convergence and Divergence (MACD) indicator.

It should be noted that the monthly horizontal resistance area surrounding $1,900-05 also appears a tough nut to crack for the Gold buyers, other than the 200-SMA level of near $1,888.

Following that, a run-up toward the monthly high of $1,960 can’t be ruled out. It’s worth noting that March 2022 high near $1,966 and the stated channel’s top line, close to $1,972 by the press time, could challenge the Gold buyers afterward.

Alternatively, a sustained downside break of the aforementioned ascending trend channel’s support line, near $1,870 at the latest, keeps directing the Gold bears towards the seven-week-old horizontal support area surrounding $1,825.

Overall, Gold is back on the bear’s radar ahead of the key US data, after a brief teasing to the bulls.