A rush into the safe-haven appeal of gold caused prices to reach a record high on Friday as worries over U.S. President Donald Trump’s new tariff proposals stoked fears of a global trade war.
As of 0230 GMT, spot gold had risen 0.6% to $3,073.79 an ounce, after its peak of $3,077.44 earlier in the day. Bullion has up 1.7% this week so far.
Gold futures in the US increased 0.8% to $3,083.60.
The wind is currently on gold’s side. Kyle Rodda, a financial market analyst at Capital.com, stated that the next significant price milestone is $3,100/oz. “Everything is blowing in gold’s direction: U.S. trade policy, U.S. fiscal policy, geopolitics, and a growth slowdown,” he added.
The unpredictability of tariffs, the possibility of interest rate reductions, geopolitical tensions, and central bank purchases have all contributed to the 2025 gold boom.
On Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declared that if Trump applies further car tariffs, which have slowed stocks and escalated a global trade war, he will retaliate with undefined trade steps.
The reciprocal tariffs that Trump plans to impose on April 2 are also the focus of much attention since they have the potential to worsen trade conflicts, slow economic growth, and increase inflation.
“We continue to hold a bullish outlook towards gold prices, with gold continuing to benefit from U.S. policy uncertainty, trade tensions, military conflicts around the world, inflation worries and macro uncertainty,” according to a report from BMI.
Gold has long been regarded as a hedge against political and economic unpredictability and frequently prospers in an environment with low interest rates.
Given the considerable degree of uncertainty and the speed at which U.S. government policy is changing, Richmond Federal Reserve President Tom Barkin said that the Fed’s present “moderately restrictive” monetary policy is reasonable.
Following the Fed’s recent decision to leave its benchmark rate constant, the market anticipates the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures data, which is coming later today and might affect expectations for rate reduction this year. Palladium strengthened 0.1% to $976.5, platinum increased 0.3% to $988.45, while spot silver dropped 0.3% to $34.31 an ounce.
