NEW YORK: Gold prices rebounded on Tuesday from a dip in the previous session triggered by tech-led wider market sell-off, as increasing uncertainties over US President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs kept investor interest in the safe-haven asset.
Spot gold rose 0.4% to $2,751.66 per ounce by 10:07 a.m. ET (1507 GMT). Gold dropped over 1% to mark its steepest drop since Dec. 18 in the previous session spurred by DeepSeek’s low-cost, low-power AI model.
US gold futures rose 0.3% to $2,746.70. “I think some of the biggest factors are Trump’s comments yesterday in regards to tariffs… and right now, the correlation with gold is, a basket of geopolitics, inflation expectations,” said Daniel Pavilonis, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.
Trump said on Monday he plans to impose tariffs on imported computer chips, pharmaceuticals and steel in an effort to get the producers to make them in the United States. Trump’s policies, in addition to being perceived as inflationary, could potentially trigger trade wars, increasing safe-haven demand for bullion.
Investors’ focus is now set upon the Federal Reserve’s first policy meeting this year, scheduled to start later in the day. Policymakers are expected to leave interest rates unchanged at the end of the two-day meeting.
However, Trump saying he wants borrowing costs to be lowered cast some doubt over the independence of the Fed’s decision.
“We’re not even that far away from all-time highs, so the upward momentum is there we just need some kind of trigger to get it going,” said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures. Gold prices look set for a record-breaking year due to heightened economic uncertainty and inflation concerns, a Reuters poll showed. However, analysts downgraded their 2025 price forecasts for platinum and palladium as demand struggles to improve significantly.
Spot silver fell 0.4% to $30.08 per ounce, palladium was down by 0.9% to $951.94 and platinum also shed 1% to $937.84.