Gold price (XAU/USD) remains confined in a range during the European session on Friday and consolidates the previous day's strong move up to a two-week high, around the $2,360-2,365 area. The US Treasury bond yields look to build on Thursday's strong move up in anticipation of new supply next week, which, in turn, is seen as a key factor acting as a headwind for the commodity. That said, Thursday's softer US data reaffirmed expectations for an imminent start of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) rate-cutting cycle later this year. This fails to assist the US Dollar (USD) in attracting any follow-through buyers and should act as a tailwind for the non-yielding yellow metal. 

Meanwhile, the Bank of England's (BoE) dovish outlook on Thursday lifted bets for an interest rate cut in August. Furthermore, the European Central Bank (ECB) earlier this month decided to lower borrowing costs and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) also delivered its second rate cut of 2024 on Thursday. This, along with a sustained breakout through the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) on Thursday, favors bullish traders and suggests that the path of least resistance for the Gold price is to the upside. Hence, any corrective slide might be seen as a buying opportunity and is more likely to remain limited as traders look to the flash global PMIs for a fresh impetus.