Gold Price Analysis: Bulls squeezed into the close on Wall Street

• Gold shedding from the highs of its correction as bears step up to the plate into the close. 
• Hopes of a COVID-19 vaccine are alive with the latest updates from Pfizer's CEO.

At the time of writing, gold is trading down some 0.36% at $1,881.03 having slid from a high of $1,893.60 to a low of $1,877.01. 

The price of gold has been nudged lower as the Judy Shelton nomination to the Federal Reserve was voted down 47/50.

She has been an advocate for the gold standard, but it may have just been a coincidence that the price dropped around the result, as technically, gold was toppy in a correction of the latest bearish impulse. 

Meanwhile, US stocks have been relatively robust despite the fact that  America is in the middle of its third nationwide surge in Covid-19 cases.

In some was are calling this a “third wave” with reported cases hitting a record high of more than 100,000 in one day, the latest update according to the CDC on the spread of the virus in the US, cases rose to 151,855 vs 138,025 yesterday with 762 deaths vs 660 the prior day.

However, hopes of a vaccine are alive with the latest updates from Pfizer's CEO who has said that they are ‘very close’ to submitting for US emergency use authorization of Covid vaccine.

On Monday, the biotech company Moderna Inc. said that its experimental vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing disease, according to an analysis of its clinical trial.

The welcomed news followed that of Pfizer and BioNTech exactly one week earlier that said their vaccine was more than 90% effective.

Looking forward, investors will be keeping a stern eye on the Federal Reserve as well as the progress of the President-select Joe Biden's economic plan. 

Analysts at Standard Chartered said that the Fed might consider it necessary to ease in coming weeks, even ahead of the next FOMC meeting in December.

Biden might not be able to get as big a package through Congress depending on the outcome of the two special election runoffs in January deciding who will win the Senate majority. 

If the Democrats do not win both seats, the Republicans will continue to have the majority and hence we expect only a small relief package.

In US data on Tuesday, Retail Sales in the US increased just 0.3% MoM in October.

''The data was considerably weaker than expected and well down on the 1.6% recorded in September,'' analysts at ANZ Bank explained.

''Sales of vehicles and petrol were weak and the rate of sales fell for furniture, food & beverage, and clothing. Retail inventories aside from autos lifted 1.1%. Overall, this is a clear sign consumers are tightening their belts and the US economy would benefit from fiscal stimulus.''