The market turned fully risk-off on Monday morning as political tensions between the U.S. and China escalated. Stocks in Asia retreated along with U.S. and European futures. The dollar climbed. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said “enormous evidence” shows the novel coronavirus outbreak began in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, but didn’t provide any proof for his claims. That comes after President Donald Trump and his aides last week sharpened their criticism of Beijing, demanding answers about the virus’s origin and hinting at possible retaliation. Later when President Trump was asked if he will use tariffs to punish China for coronavirus, he says they would be “the ultimate punishment”.
Gold gains as rising U.S.-China tensions dent risk sentiment. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday there was "a significant amount of evidence" that the new coronavirus emerged from a Chinese laboratory, but did not dispute U.S. intelligence agencies' conclusion that it was not man-made. Meanwhile, gold also tends to benefit from widespread stimulus measures as it is often seen as a hedge against inflation and currency debasement.
The safe-haven U.S. dollar rallied to one-week highs against the risk-sensitive Australian, New Zealand dollars and Canadian dollars. U.S. crude futures fell more than 5percent in early trade on Monday, paring last week's gains, on worries about oil oversupply and tempered hopes for economic recovery as some U.S. states and cities around the world ease coronavirus pandemic restrictions. This could lead to more upside in the USDCAD pair.
London copper prices slipped to a near two-week low on Monday on fears of excess supply, as some producers looked set to resume operations and demand took a hit from the coronavirus outbreak. Peru, the copper giant, will gradually ease restrictions on key sectors including mining and construction in May, the government said in a decree on Sunday. This could put copper in the same shoes of crude oil as demand destruction is still keeping a cap on the commodity.
Technical & Trade views
USDCAD (Intraday bias: bullish above 1.4023)
We remain bullish as price is likely to bounce off 1st support, which happens to be previous horizontal pullback support. Price is likely to go higher towards 1st resistance at 1.4247 where the previous swing high and 50% fibonacci retracement are.
UKOIL (Intraday bias: bearish below 29.19)
We turned bearish as price is approaching 1st resistance at 29.19 where the swing high resistance and the 61.8% fibonacci retracement are. Price is likely to drop towards 1st support at 22.43 where the horizontal pullback support is.
XAUUSD ( Intraday bias: bearish below 1745.35)
We turned bearish as price is approaching 1st resistance at 1745.35 where the horizontal swing high resistance is. Price is likely to drop towards 1st support at 1642.36 where the 38.2% fibonacci retracement and horizontal overlap support are.
XCUUSD ( Intraday bias: bullish above 2.2744)
We remain bullish as price is likely to bounce off 1st support, which happens to be previous horizontal pullback support and 50% fibonacci retracement are. Price is likely to go higher towards 1st resistance at 2.3936 where the previous swing high is.
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Desmond Leong runs an award-winning research firm (The Technical Analyst finalists 2018/19/20 for Best FX and Equity Research) advising banks, brokers and hedge funds. Backed by a team of CFA, CMT, CFTe accredited traders, he takes on the market daily using a combination of technical and fundamental analysis.