Gold soared for a third successive day to set a new record above $3,200 an ounce, as a faltering dollar and escalating US-China trade war raised the appeal of the safe-haven metal.
Spot gold was up another 1.6% by 10:40 a.m. ET to $3,225.52 per ounce, having hit an all-time peak of $3,244.10 earlier. US gold futures rose 2.1% to reach $3,245.60 per ounce in New York.
Bullion has now gained nearly 8% over the past three days, underscoring its safe-haven status at a time when US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable tariff agenda is sparking frantic selloffs in US stocks, bonds and the dollar.
The gold rally continued on Friday after China raised its tariffs on US imports to 125%, raising the stakes in a confrontation between the world’s two largest economies.
“Gold is the best place to be in the market now,” said Liu Yuxuan, a Shanghai-based precious metal researcher, in a Bloomberg note. “The unprecedented trade tension has deepened the distrust of US dollar, intensifying the demand for other safety assets.”
On Friday, the US dollar index continued its decline, at one point falling to its lowest level in three years.
Also supporting bullion is the expectation that the US Federal Reserve will lower interest rates. Data on Thursday showed that US inflation cooled broadly in March, but tariffs could reverse that in the coming months. Traders are pricing in three interest-rate cuts over the remainder of the year, with a chance of a fourth.
“A minor correction (for gold) wouldn’t surprise, but the path forward is up and away as CPI and PPI give the Fed more room to cut and will keep downward pressure on the dollar,” Tai Wong, an independent metals trader, told Reuters.
But certain developments could cap gold’s rise, UBS analysts said in a note, including “easing geopolitical tensions, a return to more cooperative trade relations, or a significant improvement in the US macro and fiscal backdrop.”
So far this year, gold has risen more than 20% as a combination of central bank demand, US rate cut expectations and geopolitical instabilities propelled the metal to multiple records
