Fed week is exciting for some. Gold bulls and bugs alike hope the Fed will do something or say something that will trigger a huge move in precious metals. It doesn’t work like that. The Fed follows the market, which for the Fed Funds rate (FFR) is the 2-year yield. The 2-year yield has been screaming higher over the past 12 months and it implies at least another two rate hikes in the future. That’s not good for precious metals and could be partly why (among other reasons) Gold and gold stocks have lost their 200-day moving averages. Whatever the reason, the short-term technicals are negative and there is risk of increased selling before a potential rebound in July.
First, let’s take a look at Gold and gold against the equity market. As we can see from the chart, Gold in June has failed twice at its 200-day moving average. That is different from 2017 when each time Gold lost its 200-day moving average, it made a V rebound back above it.
Gold & Gold/Stocks
Gold’s weakness against the broad equity market is another concern. At the bottom of the chart we plot Gold against the NYSE, a broad stock market index. The ratio recently failed at its downtrending 200-day moving average and is also threatening a move to new lows for essentially the first time since 2015. (The December 2017 break was not sustained to the downside).
Elsewhere, the miners have spent the second quarter wrestling with their 200-day moving averages. GDX (NYSE:GDX) failed at its 200-dma twice in the past month, including last week. Meanwhile, VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners (NYSE:GDXJ) has shown a tiny bit more strength but essentially has wrestled with its 200-dma since April. The silver stocks (Global X Silver Miners (NYSE:SIL)) have been weaker as they have not traded above their 200-dma since January and could have started to breakdown on Friday by closing at 3-month low.
GDX, GDXJ, And SIL
The immediate outlook for precious metals is negative as the price action suggests but current bearish sentiment implies a rebound is on the horizon. The summer could be playing out as we anticipated three weeks ago. An immediate move lower could push Gold to strong support around $1260 and that would put sentiment indicators into truly extreme territory. From there, it is critical that the sector recaptures 200-day moving averages. Given our recent cautious views, we have narrowed our focus to a smaller group of companies capable of performing well in this environment.