Similar to EUR/USD and USD/JPY last week, it looked like gold was facing a technical break lower as price fell through the support region of $1,975-81. However, with the dollar getting checked back on Friday and in trading today, we are seeing price action consolidate a little as traders call into question the breakout move from last week.

The US debt ceiling talks seem to be the main focus in markets at the moment and that is arguably keeping dollar gains in check. Now, gold is trading back towards the broken support region of $1,975-81 and so buyers are not quite throwing in the towel just yet.

However, looking at the near-term chart:

It is proving to be a similar case for gold as it is in EUR/USD here. The minor bounce today ran into a test of its 100-hour moving average (red line) and that key level is holding for now. In technical terms, sellers are still in near-term control as such. And it would require buyers to break above that to open up some room to work with between that and the $2,000 mark again.

So, while the downside break is being questioned right now, sellers are still hanging on in there as they hold at the key near-term level pointed out above – now seen at $1,980.38 roughly. Keep below that and the near-term bias remains more bearish but break above and the bias will turn more neutral instead.

But as we can see with other dollar pairs right now, the technical picture is more or less the same. This suggests that dollar sentiment is the key driver of trading conditions currently so it is best to keep the focus on factors impacting that i.e. debt talks, Fedspeak, US economic data.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.

On the daily chart below for the
Nasdaq, we can see that we got the first negative close last Friday after
several big positive days. The culprit was a negative
news about debt ceiling talks being at a stalemate. We can also see that the
rally stalled at an old swing level that should act as resistance going
forward.

The Nasdaq should still have an
upward bias as the bullish
flag pattern is still playing out perfectly. As things stand, we may keep on
trading on the classic “buy the rumour” playbook as the market expects that
eventually the debt ceiling will be raised. The target of the bullish flag is
the 13000 area with the 13174 high being a nice level to look at.

Nasdaq Technical Analysis

On the 4 hour chart below, we can
see that the month long range beneath the strong 12274 resistance was breached and once the price
retested the broken resistance
turned support, the Nasdaq rallied strongly to the next
resistance at 12660. We now have a trendline that will act as support in case
the Nasdaq makes a deeper pullback to the downside.

On the 1 hour chart below, we can
see that in case we get a pullback from here, the downside should be limited
for the Nasdaq. In fact, we have a minor trendline and Fibonacci
retracement levels that will act as support for the buyers
looking to position for another rally towards the 13000 level. On an even
deeper correction, the buyers should be leaning on the major trendline and the
12274 support as the last line of defence.

The sellers, on the other hand,
are likely to pile in if the Nasdaq breaks below the minor trendline targeting
the major one. If the price falls below the major trendline, then the sellers
should really come in aggressively and target the 11900 support.

This article was written by ForexLive at www.forexlive.com.

EUR/USD is up 0.2% to 1.0825 currently, sitting near the highs for the day. The range today may be relatively narrow still but buyers are seen making a play once again as they contest the 100-hour moving average:

The key level has been a solid near-term spot for sellers to lean on in driving the pair lower from 1.1000 to just below 1.0800 last week. That also resulted in a break below its 100-day moving average, but now that move in itself is being called into question as highlighted earlier today here.

This is certainly keeping things interesting to start the new week and a hold above the 100-hour moving average noted above, will allow for buyers to wrestle back some near-term control. That will open up some room for price action to roam in between that (now at 1.0823) and the 200-hour moving average, now at 1.0867.

As highlighted in the linked post above, this isn’t the only dollar pair which is seeing its breakout move called into question. USD/JPY is also trading flattish at 137.90 now but is seeing its break above 138.00 last week get checked back at the moment.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.