The gold news calendar in UTC runs CPI, PPI, jobless claims and NFP at 13:30, ISM and JOLTS at 15:00, and the FOMC decision at 19:00 with the press conference at 19:30. Spreads widen from about $0.20 to .00+ in the first minute; the tradable entry sits ten to ninety minutes later, once a direction has held through two candles.
The gold news calendar in UTC places US CPI, PPI, jobless claims and Non-Farm Payrolls at 13:30, ISM and JOLTS at 15:00, and the FOMC decision at 19:00 with the press conference at 19:30 — all shifting by an hour for one to three weeks around the US daylight-saving transitions in March and November.
After a tier-one print, XAUUSD spread widens from roughly $0.20 to .00 or more in the first minute, compresses back towards normal over five to fifteen minutes as a real 5-minute structure forms, and a genuine direction — as opposed to headline-driven noise — typically only becomes visible once two consecutive candles close the same way.
Excluded windows are fixed and checkable in advance: the first two minutes after any release, the ninety minutes before one, straddled pending orders through the print, the gap between an FOMC decision and its press conference, rollover between 21:00 and 23:00 UTC, and second-tier data traded in isolation.