XAU/USD Current Price: $2,609.43

FOMC meeting minutes and Fedspeak take center stage in the US afternoon.

US authorities' potential pursuit of negotiations for Google breakthroughs worsens market sentiment.

XAU/USD is pressured by its weekly lows and gains downward traction in the short term.

Spot gold fell to $2,604.66 on Tuesday, then rebounded slightly. As investors await the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes and Federal Reserve speeches, the gold/dollar currency pair approached such lows in the early US session.

However, it seems unreasonable to hope that the document will provide some new insights into future monetary policy. A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the Federal Reserve announced a 50 basis point (bps) rate cut at its September meeting.

The most notorious game-changer is the latest Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) report, which showed that the country added more than 250,000 new jobs in September, with the unemployment rate dropping from the previous 4.2% to 4.1%. After the news was announced, market participants reduced their bets on a possible 50 bps rate cut in November, helping the dollar to regain calm.

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The FOMC meeting minutes will reflect policymakers' thoughts before obtaining reliable employment-related data. As for Federal Reserve speakers, most have already been within reach of the Federal Reserve's consequences and are unlikely to make comments different from what has already been heard.

Meanwhile, the market is in a risk-averse mood. The excitement about China's stimulus measures has faded, undermining the local stock market, and the news that the US Department of Justice believes Google may be split up has also put pressure on the stock market. Wall Street trading is mixed, with only the S&P 500 index remaining slightly up.XAU/USD Short-Term Technical Outlook

The daily chart of the XAU/USD currency pair shows that it has fallen for the sixth consecutive day, with increasing bearish potential. Technical indicators provide a firm bearish slope, although still above the midline, while the bright metal is currently developing below the still bullish 20 Simple Moving Average (SMA). Meanwhile, the 100 and 200 SMAs are still far below the current level, maintaining an upward slope.

In the short term, according to the 4-hour chart, the bearish argument is stronger. The bearish 20 SMA is about to break below the essentially flat 100 SMA, both located near 2,635. At the same time, technical indicators are accelerating southward within negative levels, consistent with ongoing selling pressure.

Support levels: 2,603.90 2,589.10 2,575.20

Resistance levels: 2,625.40 2,637.10 2,652.90