For a long time, investors were surprised by the growth of XAUUSD quotes against the backdrop of a rapid rally in the yield of treasury bonds and the US dollar. Gold is quoted in US currency, the increase in the USD index makes it more expensive in other countries, but the precious metal stubbornly refused to pay attention to this historical fact. As well as the inverse correlation with debt market instruments. Sooner or later, its exploits had to end. And another trip to $2,000 per ounce again turned into a fiasco.

The main driver of the upward movement in XAUUSD is the armed conflict in Ukraine, which should potentially further accelerate inflation and provoke a slowdown in global economic growth. The IMF has lowered its forecast for global GDP for 2022 from 4.4% to 3.6%. The largest sharpening, from 3.9% to 2.8%, was subjected to the assessment of the gross domestic product of the eurozone due to its proximity to the war zone and the EU's dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies. For a long time, gold received preferences both as a safe-haven asset and as a tool for hedging inflationary risks.

In the second decade of April, the situation changed. Real yields on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds are back in positive territory for the first time in more than two years, and globally traded negative-rate debt is down $9 trillion since early 2022 to $2.7 trillion. This circumstance signals that the global economy is returning to normal conditions, which is bad news for the precious metal. Its weakness stems from the fact that nominal yields are rising faster than inflationary expectations.

Dynamics of the real yield of US Treasury bonds

Of course, the hawkish rhetoric of the FOMC members influenced the rally in debt rates. A number of them spoke of raising borrowing costs by as much as 75 bp all at once, citing the experience of 1994, when Alan Greenspan and his colleagues managed to achieve a soft landing. At present, the futures market is quoting its instruments with a 140 bp increase in the federal funds rate at the next three meetings of the Open Market Committee. That is to say, investors believe that the big move will be made at least twice, which has not happened since 1984. In such an atmosphere of anticipation, Jerome Powell's hawkish rhetoric at the IMF-World Bank meeting accelerates Treasury bond yields and the US dollar, which negatively affects gold.

What's next? Much will depend on the duration of the armed conflict in Ukraine. The longer, the more likely the EU will join the embargo on Russian oil. This will lead to a further increase in inflation and, most likely, to a recession in the German economy. Fears about this support the "bulls" on XAUUSD.

Technically, on the daily chart of gold, there is a transformation of the splash and shelf pattern into a false breakout pattern. The return of gold quotes to the middle of the consolidation range near $1930 per ounce could be the basis for sales.

Gold, Daily chart