Gold is up $10 in the past hour in the second day of gains. The rally erases the fall on Monday and we're now within striking distance of this week's high of $1831.
Seasonally, gold has risen in January in 7 of the past 8 years. Over the last 20 years, the average gain in January is 3.17%, which is easily the best of any month on the calendar.
Fundamentally, the backdrop of rising rates and Fed hikes isn't great but I believe the real-rate story is overstated. What could boost gold more durably is a falling US dollar, continued global deficit spending, instability like we're seeing in Kazakhstan today and a broad commodity rally.
Technically, a rise above the weekly high will quickly run into the downtrend from the recent highs but I don't think that's important resistance. Next to watch is $1876.
