Gold Slides as Trump Sends Mixed Signals on Iran War Endgame
Gold fell after a closely watched address by U.S. President Donald Trump offered limited clarity on how the Middle East war will be resolved. Silver also dropped sharply.
Spot gold slid as much as 4.3%, snapping a four-day winning streak, after Trump said in a Wednesday night speech that the five-week conflict was nearing completion, but that the U.S.-Israel alliance would hit Iran “extremely hard” over the next two to three weeks. Iran, meanwhile, continued attacks across the Persian Gulf on Thursday and showed little sign of readiness to begin talks.
The shift in tone rippled across markets. Equities weakened, a gauge of the U.S. dollar rose as much as 0.5%, and oil jumped as concerns persisted over energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz — a key chokepoint that typically carries about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments. The cross-asset moves extended a pattern seen during the conflict, with gold’s haven appeal often muted by investors’ need to raise cash and cover losses in other markets.
Trump’s speech “basically framed the conflict as a military success story, not a ceasefire announcement,” said Christopher Wong, a strategist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. While gold had earlier edged up toward $4,800 an ounce, he said momentum could fade if risk appetite is restrained by fears of a potential U.S. ground operation in Iran.
Gold pared some losses later Thursday morning in the U.S. after a report said Iran is drafting a protocol with Oman to monitor traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier, after Trump had said the U.S. could leave Iran within a two- to three-week window, traders had leaned toward the view that the Federal Reserve may ultimately need to cut interest rates to cushion the economy against a more prolonged downturn. With U.S. markets set to close for the Good Friday holiday, positioning into the long weekend is likely to keep risk reduction and volatility management at the forefront, Wong said.
Gold’s broader backdrop remains complicated. Bullion’s near-12% fall in March marked its worst monthly performance since October 2008, as inflation risks tied to elevated oil prices reduced expectations for lower borrowing costs — again overshadowing gold’s traditional role as a haven.
Spot gold was down 2.0% at $4,662.71 an ounce as of 12:06 p.m. in New York. Silver fell 3.9% to $72.15, while platinum and palladium rose. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was up 0.2%.
Source : Newsmaker.id
