While no official tariff has been imposed, the price gap between the CME and London Metal Exchange (LME) contracts has widened sharply, with CME copper trading at a premium exceeding $1,000 per metric ton. This suggests the market is pricing in at least a 10% tariff, though a 25% duty, similar to those on aluminum and steel, remains a possibility.
Source – Econo Times
Gold is on a tear, hitting a record high in New York on Monday at almost $3,150 an ounce to bring the rise this year to 19%.
Analysts at Bank of America think gold could hit $3,500 an ounce if demand increases by 10%.
“Uncertainty around Trump Administration trade policies could continue to push the dollar lower, further supporting gold prices near-term. In our view, a broad rebalancing of America’s twin deficits could be bullish gold too.”
Source – Markets Insider
Gold prices are “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,” Blue Line Futures chief market strategist Phillip Streible said.
Front-month Comex gold (XAUUSD:CUR) for January delivery settled +1.1% to $2,766.80/oz, gold’s 11th gain in 15 sessions, and front-month January silver (XAGUSD:CUR) closed +1.5% to $30.727/oz.
Source – Seeking Alpha
“I do think that we have really good chances now to progress that project. We have made a lot of progress,” Rio (RIO) CEO Jakob Stausholm told FT in an interview.
Source – Financial Times / Seeking Alpha
Gold touched an all-time high on Monday, breaching the $3,100 level, as investors turned to the safe-haven asset amid concerns that U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff plans would stoke a global trade war and economic fallout.
Spot gold was up 0.6% to $3,103.63 an ounce, as of 0255 GMT, after hitting a record high of $3,107.26 earlier. Bullion is up over 8% in March.
“Markets anxiety levels have been ramping up ahead of the reciprocal U.S. tariff announcements, which is keeping gold in high demand as a defensive play,” KCM Trade chief market analyst, Tim Waterer said.
“If the tariff announcements this week are not as severe as feared, then the gold price could start to backtrack as profit-taking from the highs may be triggered.”
Spot silver rose 0.4% to $34.23 an ounce, platinum was steady at $983.51 and palladium gained 0.4% to $975.70.
Source – Reuters
Silver is making a strong comeback at the start of 2025, following a challenging year-end performance in 2024.
There is good reason to suspect that bullion banks have deliberately driven gold and silver prices lower at the close of 2024 to “paint the charts” and influence the yearly closing prices. Reports Jesse Colombo
Source – Money Metals
“Trying to guess what happens next is a serious challenge.” CEO John McCluskey of Alamos Gold
Source – CNBC / Video