The gold price on Friday spiked to trade at a new multi-year high of about $2,430 before pulling back to $2,356. The XAU/USD appears to have completed a downward breakout from an ascending channel formation in the 60-minute chart.

The price of the yellow metal has now dropped to trade at the 100-hour moving average line. Friday’s late pullback pushed the gold price back to the normal trading zone of the 14-hour RSI.

Gold Price Fundamentals Overview

From a fundamental perspective, the XAU/USD is trading at the back of a relatively busy period in the US market. On Friday, the preliminary Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for April missed the expectation of 79 with a reading of 77.9, down from 79.4 in the previous period. The preliminary UoM 5-year inflation expectations for April increased to 3% up from 2.8%.

On Thursday, the producer price index for March missed the (MoM) expectation of 0.3% with a change of 0.2%. The (YoY) equivalent also fell short of the forecasted change of 2.2% with a change of 2.1%.

On the other hand, the producer price index ex-food and energy for the month outshone the forecasted (YoY) change of 2.3% with a change of 2.4%. The (MoM) equivalent was in line with the estimate of 0.2%. Elsewhere, the initial jobless claims for the week ending April 5 exceeded expectations of 215k with a slightly lower tally of 211k.

Earlier in the week, the US consumer price index beat the (MoM) and (YoY) expectations of 0.3% and 3.4%, respectively with changes of 0.4% and 3.5%. The CPI ex-food and energy also outshone 0.3% (MoM) and 3.7% (YoY) with changes of 0.4% and 3.8%, respectively.

Gold Price Technical Analysis (the 60-min Chart)

Technically, the gold price appears to have recently completed a downward breakout from an ascending channel formation. The 14-hour RSI also seems to support a bearish bias after recovering from overbought conditions.

Therefore, the bears will be targeting extended pullbacks at about $2,339 or lower at $2,319. On the other hand, the bulls will look to pounce on rebounds at about $2,375 or higher at $2,395.

Gold Price Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)

In the daily chart, the price of the yellow metal continues to trade within an ascending channel formation. The 14-day RSI also seems to support a long-term bullish bias after ascending into overbought conditions.

Therefore, the bulls will be looking to stretch the current run of gains toward $2,430 or higher to $2,503. On the other hand, the bears will be targeting long-term profits at about $2,277 or lower at $2,199.