Gold consolidates above $1,800, markets await technical breakout

Why Watch the Jackson Hole Nerdfest?

Gold last traded at $1,817 an ounce. Silver at $24.03 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices steadied Friday after inflation data met expectations. U.S. stocks edged higher ahead of the Fed's annual Jackson Hole symposium with investors looking for more details into the central bank's plans to taper monetary stimulus.

FX STREET--"Gold gained some positive traction during the early North American session and climbed to near three-week tops, around the $1,809 area in the last hour, albeit lacked follow-through. Worries that the continuous surge in the Delta variant infections could threaten the global economic recovery. The concerns drove some flows towards traditional safe-haven assets, including gold.

Meanwhile, the worsening COVID-19 situation in the US might have convinced investors that the Fed would wait for a longer period before rolling back its pandemic-era stimulus. This, in turn, kept the US dollar bulls on the defensive and further extended some support to the XAU/USD. A weaker USD tends to benefit dollar-denominated commodities, including gold.

That said, a positive opening in the US equity markets and an uptick in the US Treasury bond yields capped the upside for the non-yielding gold. The global risk sentiment got a lift after China said that it had stopped the community spread of COVID-19. Adding to this, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted full approval to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and further boosted investors' appetite for perceived riskier assets....

Given that technical indicators on the daily chart have been gaining positive traction, some follow-through buying has the potential to lift the commodity back towards the $1,832-34 supply zone. The mentioned region marks the double-top resistance, which if cleared decisively will be seen as a fresh trigger for bullish traders."