XAU/USD Current price: $2,753.60

• The Federal Reserve will likely keep rates on hold in today’s monetary policy meeting.
• The United States will publish the preliminary estimate of the Q4 GDP on Thursday.
• XAU/USD could extend its slide in the near term amid prevalent US Dollar demand.

Gold is under modest selling pressure on Wednesday as caution rules ahead of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) monetary policy announcement. The United States (US) central bank is widely anticipated to keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged after trimming 25 basis points (bps)  and settling it at 4.25%-4.5% in December.

Back then, officials adopted a more dovish stance amid uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s trade policies and their potential effects on economic development. Trump’s initial days at the office have indeed triggered loads of noise, with the focus on tariffs. Still, the US government has announced no new levies.

There is a good chance the Fed will repeat its December statement as officials would prefer to wait for a clearer picture before taking a more hawkish approach. In the meantime, and following the Fed’s decision, the US will publish the preliminary estimate of the Q4 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on Thursday. The report is expected to show that the economy grew at a solid 2.6% pace on an annualized basis, slightly below the 3.1% posted in Q3.

Meanwhile, US government bond yields held steady. The 10-year Treasury note offers 4.55%, pretty much unchanged on a daily basis. US indexes, in the meantime, are modestly down after their overseas counterparts closed in the green.

XAU/USD short-term technical outlook

From a technical point of view, the daily chart for the XAU/USD shows an undergoing consolidative stage. The bright metal seesaws between gains and losses but remains above the $2,700 mark and not far below record highs. The same chart shows that the 20 Simple Moving Average (SMA) keeps heading north well below the current level, while it is above bullish 100 and 200 SMAs, limiting the bearish case. Finally, technical indicators ease within positive levels, far above their midlines and falling short of suggesting a sustained bearish extension.

In the near term, and according to the 4-hour chart, however, the risk skews to the downside. XAU/USD has spent the last couple of sessions battling a now bearish 20 SMA, developing just below it. The longer moving averages maintain their upward slopes below the current level, yet technical indicators are crossing their midlines into negative territory, favoring another leg south.

Support levels: 2,747.20 2,734.60 2,716.50

Resistance levels: 2,764.85 2,777.30 2,789.95