Summary:

• US auto sales for December fail to give a clear signal of consumer spending
• Ford and GM beat forecasts but Nissan, Honda and Toyota miss
• Gold could be set to end recent winning streak

Some analysts and traders believe that auto sales can be one of the most significant indicators of consumer spending and today has seen the release of December’s numbers from the US. The big 3 – Ford, Chrysler and GM – reported a little better than expected sales but other manufacturers will likely be disappointed. The monthly change of sales can be seen below:

Ford: +1.3% vs -1.8% exp

GM: -3.3% vs -7.3% exp

Fiat Chrysler: -11% vs -10% exp

Nissan: -9.5% vs -2.2% exp

Honda: -7.0% vs -4.1% exp

Toyota: -8.3% vs -8.4%

We earlier posted on the US dollar following the ISM release so let’s now focus on Gold. The precious metal has been on an incredible run of late with yesterday marking the 8th consecutive daily gain. In the last 17 trading days the market has rallied around $85 from the low of 1236 and given this rise it is not too surprising that that some indicators are flashing “overbought” signals. The RSI for instance on D1 has moved above the 70 level into “overbought” territory with the present reading coming in at 73.5.

 Gold has rallied strongly of late and the RSI could be seen to indicate “overbought” conditions. Source: xStation

Should the market remain below the recent highs of 1321 then a pullback may occur and fib retracements may provide interesting levels to look for support if searching for longs or profit targets for shorts. The 23.6% at 1310 is the first on many Fib traders radar but a break below there could see the 38.2% at 1288 and even the 61.8% at 1268 trade.  

 Fib retracements of the $85 rally could provide levels to keep an eye on should the market fall lower from here. Source: xStation