Gold closed last week’s trading with strong gains of 1.6%, after hitting an all-time high of $3674 per ounce. Despite a slight decline in Friday’s session, the yellow metal continues to maintain its positive momentum, reinforcing expectations that the upward trend will continue in the near term.

Gold is currently trading near the lower line of the bullish channel, which coincides with the weekly pivot point at $3632. If gold manages to hold above this point, it could be a strong signal that it will continue to break records towards $3685 then $3727.

On the downside, if gold fails to stabilize above the lower line of the channel, it will lose its positive momentum to retest the first support level at $3590. If the price stabilizes below the first support, it may resume its decline to the second support level at $3537.

From a fundamental standpoint, investors are awaiting the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision, with expectations that Fed officials will cut the borrowing cost by 25 basis points to around 4.25%.

In addition, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a press conference, which could provide clues about the future trajectory of interest rates. Least but not last, the Fed will publish its latest growth, inflation and unemployment projections.

Finally, investors are awaiting the release of retail sales data for August, with expectations that it will soar 0.2%, following a 0.5% increase in July.