Last week's market was quite interesting. On Tuesday, the US November non-farm payroll data was released, and the results were quite mixed—the employment numbers exceeded expectations, but the unemployment rate jumped to its highest point since 2021. This kind of half-good, half-bad situation requires the market to digest it for a while.

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Governor Waller (who is highly likely to become the next Chair) made a statement. He straightforwardly said: "The rate cuts have already started to have a positive effect on the labor market. The current interest rate level is 50 to 100 basis points above the neutral rate." This statement is essentially fueling expectations of rate cuts.

At the same time, Trump was not idle. On Tuesday, he directly ordered to ban all sanctioned oil tankers from entering or leaving Venezuela, effectively cutting off an important revenue stream. When such geopolitical actions occur, market risk aversion sentiment surges.

As a result? Gold surged nearly 1% intraday on Wednesday. Rising geopolitical risks and the Fed's easing expectations combined, pushing gold prices higher. Especially with the oil tanker embargo, which directly triggered safe-haven buying.

However, to say that gold can break through the key resistance level of $4350 per ounce in the short term seems a bit premature. The medium- to long-term bullish trend is intact, but at this price level, the bulls still need to gather more momentum.