After four consecutive down days, gold is pressing slightly higher today.  In the overnight session, Asian buyers came in and lifted gold ahead of the $1,220 support area.  Data on Monday showed that Hong Kong gold imports jumped to a six month high in September as China stocked up ahead of its National Day holiday.  As the trading day moved into the NY session, the yellow metal received another boost from US Durable Orders figures.

US Durable Orders fell for the second consecutive month in September with actual figures coming in at -1.30% versus the consensus of 0.50%.  The latest sign of uneven improvement in the economy triggered stops in gold around $1,230 and it quickly made an intraday high at $1,235.50 basis the active December contract.  Silver has been consolidating between $17 and $17.70 for the month of October.  It has challenged the higher end of this range on at least five occasions this month but can’t seem to attract enough interest to break higher.   The short term direction will be largely dominated by whichever direction gold ultimately decides to trend.