Gold’s failure last week to extract much benefit from Wall Street’s severe jitters should be viewed as a sign of weakness. Regardless, the February contract was in a minor bullish uptrend at the bell, so we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt for the moment. A positive start to the week would require a decisive thrust above the midpoint resistance at 1095.40 (see inset). That would put the 1104.20 target in play, but the short-term outlook would become even brighter if the futures can hold above 1099.80. That is the midpoint pivot of a larger, bullish pattern begun from 1056.50 on December 31 that projects as high as 1127.70. ______ UPDATE (January 19, 8:34 p.m.): Tuesday’s gratuitous swoon lowered my immediate target to 1099.70, subject to p and p2 resistance at, respectively, 1090.90 and 1095.30.
