Gold Slides From Record as US Stocks See Another Week of Selloff
Gold retreated as US stocks headed for their fifth straight week of losses, cooling a rally fueled by demand for haven assets in the face of a US-led trade war.
Spot bullion fell 1% as the S&P 500 slipped on weaker-than-estimated outlooks from bellwethers across industries. Gold can see short-term setbacks from market selloffs, as investors reach for liquidity.
The precious metal was still up for the week, trading about $45 below Thursday’s record high of $3,057.49 an ounce. A fresh bout of instability has gripped markets amid mounting worries over the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, with another wave due to be announced on April 2.
Gold has climbed 15% this year in a rally that’s seen it hit 15 all-time highs in 2025, extending last year’s strong gains as investors seek safety. Geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine have also bolstered the metal’s appeal. Several major banks have raised their price targets for bullion in recent weeks, with Macquarie Group forecasting it could rise as high as $3,500 an ounce.
US sentiment remains fragile, even as reports on Thursday showed existing home sales topped estimates, while initial jobless claims were in line with expectations — a sign of a healthy labor market. That’s had investors considering the path ahead for monetary easing by the Federal Reserve, after policymakers on Wednesday kept interest rates on hold and flagged projections for both slower growth and higher inflation this year.
Speaking on Friday, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said the inflationary impact from tariffs could be transitory if they were limited in scope, though he added that larger levies and retaliations from other countries could create supply shocks that would force the Fed to respond.
Bond traders remain confident that the central bank is still on track to cut rates further in 2025. Lower borrowing costs typically boost non-interest paying bullion.
Spot gold traded at $3,014.58 an ounce as of 4:11 p.m. in London, set for a 1% weekly gain. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%. Silver fell 1.9%. Platinum and palladium also dropped.
Source: Bloomberg
