On Friday I began the daily opening letter by saying ….

Whether or not the politicians come to some kind of accord in regards to funding the government, or they let time lapse and effectually shut down the government is not the real issue.

Whether the politicians come to some kind of accord in regard to funding the government or they let time lapse and effectually shut down the government is not the real issue. Politicians have become professionals at using this dilemma to insert their priorities into any legislation that is created in order to avert a government shutdown.

Candlestick patterns create models which are a visual representation of market sentiment as well as a forward forecasting tool. This technical approach looks at past market moves in an attempt to identify patterns that occur with regularity that can be found during various market scenarios.

Continuation Patterns

Gold trading began on a positive note today with prices fractionally higher to trade up $2 to $3 on the day. This trend would continue for the better part of the trading session. Toward the end of the trading session, the dollar index began to strengthen and move out of negative territory.

Gold pricing continues its historic climb to higher prices, gaining yet more value in today’s trading. As of 4:30 PM Eastern standard time, gold futures are trading $4.10 (+0.31%) higher at $1339. Gold continues to ride the tailwinds created from a tumbling U.S. dollar, which is currently off by over a half percent today as it broke below the major support level of 91 on the dollar index.

According to Bloomberg News, about 42% of American employers will close on January 15 in observance of Martin Luther King’s birthday. U.S. equities are also closed for trading today in observance of this holiday. Although U.S. equity futures are trading higher, officially the market is closed.

Up Up and away, would you like to fly in my beautiful balloon

The lyrics to this song, written by Jimmy Webb and sung by the Fifth Dimension in 1967, seem to be appropriate to convey today’s upside breakout in gold pricing. Categorized as sunshine pop, this song won the record of the year during the 10th annual Grammy awards in 1968.

Gold is trading moderately higher today, with the most active futures contract currently trading up $3.70 (+0.28%) at $1323 per ounce. Today’s gains have taken gold to its highest value so far in 2018. On Friday of last week, gold prices reached the former 2018 apex when it closed at $1322 per ounce.

Recent price action in gold suggests that the precious yellow metal might be forming a base at just above $1300 per ounce. The most recent rally, which began in mid-December, took pricing from $1238 to $1327 before finding resistance.

The fact that gold pricing is trading under pressure is not a big surprise, and actually can be viewed as a well-needed pause in the rally currently underway. After trading to $1238 per ounce in mid-December of last year, gold prices have gained almost $90 before hitting resistance at $1327 late last week.