Today’s jobs report for February came in well over forecasts by economists that were polled by various news services. The polls of economists predicted that there would be a total of between 200,000 to 225,000 new jobs added last month. This would have been a decent number, but extremely tepid when compared to the 517,000 new jobs added to payrolls during January.

Could tomorrow’s jobs report for February contain another huge surprise with the forecast by economists coming in exceedingly higher or lower than their expectations?

Today Chairman Jerome Powell finished his semiannual congressional testimony. The chairman warned that the Fed could be more aggressive because "The latest economic data have come in stronger than expected, which suggests that the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated."

Today Chairman Jerome Powell addressed the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. As anticipated the chairman delivered a strong warning that the Federal Reserve will once again modify its monetary policy to deliver tougher rate hikes at a faster pace.

Market participants are trading cautiously with a wait-and-see attitude as this week contains multiple events that could have a deep impact on the financial markets across the board. Cautiousness is the overall demeanor of market sentiment as traders and investors await Chairman Powell’s appearance before both the Senate and House beginning on Tuesday.

Beginning on Tuesday, March 7, a series of events and reports most certainly will have a tremendous impact on the direction of gold prices as well as the magnitude of gold’s overall price gains or losses. On Tuesday the chairman of the Federal Reserve Jerome Powell will address the Senate Banking Committee marking the beginning of a two-day event.

Market participants continue to be laser-focused on upcoming changes to the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. It is the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve and its challenge of bringing inflation down that has been one of the primary drivers of price changes in the financial markets across the board.

A major component of dollar weakness today was a report out of China indicating that their manufacturing complex is in a period of robust growth. This is a major component of China’s economic reopening following its massive shutdown. Another factor resulting in bearish pressure on the dollar was euro strength.

After four consecutive days in gold traded to a lower high, a lower low, and a lower close than the previous day, traders have witnessed a pivot that began yesterday. Gold futures traded to the lowest value today hitting an intraday low of $1810.80. This follows yesterday’s prior lowest low of $1812.

Gold vs US Dollar Today