Why the Gold Price Today Jumped to Its Highest Level Since April 28

The gold price today (Friday, May 26) is up 0.8% and trading at $1,266 per ounce. That puts it on track for its best close since April 28, when gold settled at $1,268.

Today's gains come on fresh news surrounding North Korea - a big source of fear that's helped push gold prices 9.9% higher this year. During a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe today, President Donald Trump said North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions are a "big problem" and that they would certainly be dealt with.

This has urged investors to buy gold as a safe haven.

North Korea news notwithstanding, the bottom line in gold price action since mid-December has been nothing short of stealth confidence.

Yes, the 6% gold price drop from April 18 to May 9 left many investors uncertain about the metal's future in 2017. But if you consider gold's action over the past five-and-a-half months, there's a strong case to be made for a bullish series of higher highs and higher lows. That's a textbook technical definition of an upward trend.

Since we're just emerging from a recent low on May 9, sentiment doesn't feel all that great. Still, if the trend is intact, we're likely at an attractive point to go long on the gold price in 2017. That's why I'm going to share with you my bullish gold price target for the end of the year.

First, let's review gold's gain this past week...

Gold Price Today Set to Cap Off a 0.7% Weekly Gain

After closing at $1,256 on Friday, May 19, gold opened lower despite persistent weakness in the U.S. dollar. But prices managed to recover throughout the day, rising 0.3% to close at $1,260.

Tuesday was nearly the exact opposite. Gold opened lower at $1,259, bounced higher in the morning, and then sold off during midday trading. The metal closed the day at $1,251 for a 0.7% loss.

As the chart below shows, the main culprit appeared to be a surge in the dollar as represented by the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY)...

gold price today

On Wednesday, May 24, the price of gold started the day slightly higher at $1,252 but reversed course throughout most of the session. It settled 0.6% higher at $1,259 by the end of the day.

Thursday provided essentially no direction. Once gold began trading at $1,255, it basically spent the day bobbing up and down as the DXY gained just a little steam. By the close, gold was still at $1,255 and logged a 0.3% loss from the previous close.

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The gold price today is up 0.8% to $1,266 thanks to Trump's new comments about North Korea to Shinzo Abe. With that, gold is on track to post a weekly gain of 0.7%.

As I said earlier, if gold closes at the current level, it will mark the highest settlement since April 28. This strong 4.1% rebound from the May 9 low of $1,216 lines up with my claim that we're in a trend of higher highs and lower lows.

This chart shows exactly what I mean - and why I think gold has a lot more room to run this year...

My Bullish Gold Price Forecast for the Rest of 2017

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If you look at the chart below, we can clearly see gold's positive uptrend being set by the "higher high, higher low" price action...

gold price

As I mentioned last week, we're still at a crucial level, with the gold price still right around the 50-day and 200-day moving averages (indicated by the blue and red lines, respectively).  However, there are two developments since that support my bullish case for gold prices.

Have a look at this chart zoomed in for the past month...

gold prices today

You can see that the gold price has remained above the 50-day moving average since May 17.  As well, you can see that we have a "golden cross" in which the 50-day moving average has crossed up above the 200-day moving average. This is typically a very bullish signal that reinforces how gold is in - and will continue on - a bullish uptrend.

Perhaps the next near-term catalyst for gold will be the upcoming June FOMC meeting. Another interest rate hike could boost gold prices, and that could push the metal to $1,300 before too long.

After that, I still think $1,400 looks like a realistic target in the back half of 2017. That would be a strong gain of 10.6% from today's gold price of $1,266.

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