FX.co ★ AKR48 | XAU/USD, GOLD

XAU/USD At over seven-week lows of $4,480, XAU/USD is still down. Gold has plummeted over the past week due to geopolitical unpredictability and rising US yields. To relieve bearish pressure, gold bulls would need to break above $4,500. As the US Dollar Index (DXY) attempts six-week highs around the 99.45 region, gold (XAU/USD) consolidates losses at nearly seven-week lows below $4,500 on Wednesday, trading at $4,478 at the time of writing. The US dollar is gaining and gold is being hammered by safe-haven flows due to worries about the US-Iran confrontation getting worse and growing expectations that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will raise interest rates. As the US and Iran trade threats, hopes of a negotiated conclusion to the war are dwindling. Meanwhile, in the US, attention will be on the minutes of the Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting in April, which are anticipated to reveal a hawkish shift. Three policymakers demanded that the "easing bias" paragraph be removed from the Fed's statement last month, despite the fact that rates remained constant. Since then, markets have increased their expectations of a rate increase over the next 12 months, which has driven up US Treasury yields and put pressure on yieldless gold.After falling more than 2.5% from Monday's highs, XAU/USD continues to have a negative near-term outlook. While the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) histogram is in a negative area, indicating that upside efforts are likely to face sellers, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is holding close to oversold territory on the 4-hour chart, suggesting some stabilisation. The next bearish objectives for the pair are the March 30 low, which is close to $4,420, and the March 26 low, which is close to $4,350. On Wednesday, the pair found some support at the $4,450 range. In order to relieve negative pressure and refocus attention on Monday's high at the $4,590 level, bulls would need to break through the previous support range in the $4,480–$4,500 area (May 4, 15, and 18 lows).