Gold struggles to cheer China stimulus ahead of US NFP

Markets slipped into the pre-NFP consolidation mode on early Friday, following a turnaround on Thursday. That said, the US Dollar fades the previous day’s recovery from the key moving average amid mixed bias about the Fed while sentiment remains cautiously optimistic due to China stimulus measures.

Gold price edges higher but hesitates in benefiting from China’s multiple steps to infuse market liquidity and defend the Yuan. Further, Crude oil refreshes a three-week high as China news joins geopolitical and natural challenges to the energy supplies.

Elsewhere, major currency pairs remain sidelined but AUDUSD drops the most among the G10 pairs despite upbeat China Caixin Manufacturing PMI, which may be due to the downbeat Aussie data. However, the USDJPY bucks the trend and prints mild losses amid the hawkish BoJ bias.

Equities in the Asia-Pacific region trade mixed while tracing Wall Street and an indecisive pattern of the US stock futures.

BTCUSD and ETHUSD lack clear directions after declining heavily in the last two consecutive days amid fears that the US SEC won’t take the latest defeats from Ripple and Grayscale on a lighter note.

Following are the latest moves of the key assets:

• Brent oil pokes the previous monthly high, which was the highest since late January, as bulls attack $87.60 by the press time.
• Gold price seesaws around the key upside hurdle around $1,945 while preparing for the second consecutive weekly gain.
• USD Index fades the previous day’s recovery from the 200-DMA despite lacking momentum around 103.50 of late.
• Wall Street benchmarks closed mixed and so did the Asia-Pacific stocks, despite China gains. That said, equities in Europe and the UK edge lower by the press time.
• BTCUSD stays depressed at around $26,000 while ETHUSD seesaws near $1,650 at the latest.

Pre-NFP trading lull limits market moves

Although China announced heavy measures to avoid a slowdown in the economic recovery, the market sentiment remains dicey as the previous day’s upbeat US inflation and employment clues suggest the Fed can keep the rates higher for longer. Also challenging the sentiment, as well as the market moves, could be the concerns that Beijing may not be able to defend the previous economic recovery with the latest measures amid global geopolitical tensions.

Elsewhere, fears that the US SEC can delay the spot Bitcoin ETF approvals and the cautious mood ahead of the Ether update seem to prod the BTCUSD and ETHUSD prices even as the US Dollar struggles to defend the previous day’s gains.

• Strong buy: USDCAD
• Strong sell: ETHUSD, GBPUSD, Gold
• Buy: USD Index, Nasdaq, USDJPY
• Sell: DAX, FTSE 100, BTCUSD, AUDUSD, EURUSD

It’s all about US employment…

Although Canada's GDP and the US ISM Manufacturing PMI are also on the calendar, the market players are more interested in the US monthly jobs report for August especially after the recent mixed batch of data and concerns about the Fed’s pause to the hawkish cycle. Should today’s US NFP and other employment clues print downbeat figures, there is no saving of the US Dollar from posting the first weekly loss in seven.

May the trading luck be with you!