Gold USD Price XAUUSD Live Chart Gold Price History Chart

A strong Chinese economy, ongoing policy-easing by major central banks and a tense geopolitical environment could trigger another leg higher in XAU/USD prices. Foreign investors hold a large (and, after April’s developments, increasingly consequential) slice of U.S. financial markets. Overseas owners are estimated to hold roughly $18 trillion in U.S. equities and about $7 trillion in U.S. bonds and $5 trillion of U.S. corporate credit, representing about 10% of all U.S. financial assets. The Trump administration followed up this announcement of the 90-day pause with a brief threat to terminate Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Since then, the administration has been steadily walking back its harsher rhetoric, talking up potential trade deals and downplaying threats to Fed independence.

The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 post intraday gains, with the latter turning positive for the year. Other than that, the US released the April Consumer Price Index (CPI), which rose by 2.3% compared to a year earlier, easing from the previous 2.4%. Finally, the monthly CPI was up 0.2%, above the previous -0.1% but below the 0.3% anticipated by market players.

Gold Hits Record Highs: Why is Gold Price Rising?

Central banks from emerging economies such as China, India and Turkey are quickly increasing their Gold reserves. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis reported on Wednesday that the US Gross Domestic activ trades review Product (GDP) contracted at an annualized rate of 0.3% in the first quarter, according to its initial estimate. The immediate market reaction to mixed US data helped XAU/USD limit its losses, but positive headlines on US trade policy triggered another leg lower in the pair.

• Leverage carries a high level of risk and is not suitable for all investors.
• The only difference is that you’re buying or selling gold against the US dollar.
• When real rates are negative (interest rates lower than inflation) for extended periods, gold tends to perform exceptionally well.
• On a negative note, the BLS downwardly revised March’s NFP increase to 185,000 from 228,000 initially estimated.
• We refer to our March commentary (Part 4. Silver On the Cusp of a Major Breakout), for a review of silver market fundamentals, which we view as being unchanged despite the tariff developments and market sell-off.

US-China trade truce only emphasizes timeless investing truths

This period is a textbook example of investors turning to gold as a hedge against both currency debasement and economic uncertainty. At the same time, investors sought protection from potential inflation and financial instability by moving into gold. A rising dollar makes gold more expensive for buyers using other currencies, reducing global demand. Unexpected inflation reports (higher or lower than forecasted) can cause immediate price reactions in gold markets. While gold has a reputation as an inflation hedge, its day-to-day price movements are more closely linked to changes in future inflation expectations rather than actual current inflation figures.

XAU/USD could meet the first support area at $2,530-$2,500, where the Fibonacci 23.6% retracement of the October 2023 to November bitfinex review 2024 uptrend and the psychological level align. On the upside, $2,900 (upper limit of the ascending regression channel) could act as the next resistance in case Gold rises to a new record high. Markets roared back to life as the US and China hit pause on their escalating trade war, with both sides emphasizing mutual respect and dignity.

• President Trump’s comments on tariffs kept traders on edge, though notably, his proposal of an 80% tariff on Chinese imports marked a reduction from the 145% figure previously floated.
• This is because the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold disappears when “safe” investments like government bonds actually lose purchasing power after accounting for inflation.
• Eroding the Fed’s autonomy would attack all three and risk catalyzing a fragile backdrop into a more profound bond market crisis.

U.S. Dollar Strength or Weakness

Finally, the positive price boost foreign ownership has provided U.S. markets since the GFC appears poised to reverse. Conversely, gold is the direct beneficiary of this possible negative trend in U.S. assets. Metals Daily brings you the fastest, free source of Live Gold Prices in all major currencies 24 hours a day.

The author and FXStreet are not registered investment advisors and nothing in this article is intended to be investment advice. If not otherwise explicitly mentioned in the body of the article, at the time of writing, the author has no position in any stock mentioned in this article and no business relationship with any company mentioned. The author has not received compensation for writing this article, other than from FXStreet.

Gold outperformed most financial assets in every major stagflation episode, from the 1970s oil embargo to emerging market crises. Although significant net inflows of foreign capital into the U.S. have occurred since the COVID pandemic, most of the growth in this foreign exposure over the past 15 years has come from capital gains. These unrealized gains lower the hurdle for foreign investors to trim positions or hedge U.S.-dollar risk. Essentially, locking in profits is easier when the bulk of the position is «house money,» especially with the immense uncertainty brought on by U.S. tariffs and Trump’s mercurial tariff policy actions. Additionally, dealers struggled to make markets as some of the heavily leveraged $1 trillion Treasury-futures basis trade9 began to unwind abruptly, overwhelming liquidity.

But what really moves gold in the short term is not current inflation, but what people expect inflation to be in the future. When interest rates rise, the opportunity cost increases because investors could earn more by holding bonds or keeping money in interest-bearing accounts instead of gold. The pandemic caused economic instability, leading central banks to cut interest rates to ultra-low levels. Webull Financial LLC is a CFTC registered Futures Commission Merchant with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and a Member of the National Futures Association (NFA).

Forex Today: Tariff developments and inflation in Germany come to the fore

Shifting risk perceptions, eroding policy credibility and rising liquidity stress have combined to reduce confidence in traditional havens and bolster the appeal of gold. As long as volatility stays elevated and faith in U.S. economic stewardship wavers, we believe gold’s strategic case as a safe haven, diversifier, inflation hedge and central bank reserve asset will only strengthen. U.S. Treasuries, traditionally the world’s primary safe-haven asset, are now behaving like a risk asset in times of market stress. Early April’s bond rout, coupled with a falling U.S. dollar, showed how a forced unwind of the highly leveraged $1 trillion basis trade could overpower dealer balance sheets. Complacency is being reversed amid a ballooning U.S. fiscal deficit, rising recession fears and fluctuating foreign demand for U.S. assets.

This would force up to $4 trillion of new issuance into a market that is already struggling to find buyers. Later in the day, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced that Nonfarm payrolls (NFP) rose by 177,000 in April, beating the market expectation of 130,000. On a negative note, the BLS downwardly revised March’s NFP increase to 185,000 from 228,000 initially estimated.

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Despite the gold-to-silver ratio fluctuating so wildly, another way of using it is to switch holdings between silver and gold when the ratio swings to historically determined «extremes.» The Barchart Technical Opinion rating is a 88% Buy with a Average short term outlook on maintaining the current direction. Central banks are diversifying away from the U.S. dollar and gold is being recast as the foundation of a multi-asset reserve system.

A strong Dollar tends to keep the price of Gold controlled, whereas a weaker Dollar is likely to push Gold prices up. It also shows each country’s gold holdings as a percentage of its total foreign exchange reserves, revealing how prominently gold features in their financial safety nets. In real (inflation-adjusted) terms, gold’s price in 2024 had nearly returned to its 1980 peak, showing how gold has roughly maintained its purchasing power over 40+ years. While short-term interest rate changes cause immediate price reactions, what really matters for gold’s long-term performance is the overall interest rate environment that persists for years.

What Makes Gold’s Price Move?

A legal and political campaign may be underway to allow the U.S. president to dismiss Federal Reserve chairs at will. The mechanism runs through Wilcox v. NLRB, a plus500 review Supreme Court ruling in April 2025 that provisionally upheld Trump’s firing of Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board. This could lead to overturning the 1935 Humphreys Executor precedent protecting independent agency heads. If the Court scraps that safeguard, Trump could fire Fed Chairman Powell and any successor whose policy deviates from White House wishes. Featuring views and opinions written by market professionals, not staff journalists.

On the other hand, Investor sentiment is exhibiting caution due to the resurgence of geopolitical risks and the aftermath of releasing minutes from the US Federal Reserve meeting that was held in February. By buying or selling a gold CFD in response to one of our gold trading signals, you participate in the price movement of this precious metal without actually owning it physically. We refer to our March commentary (Part 4. Silver On the Cusp of a Major Breakout), for a review of silver market fundamentals, which we view as being unchanged despite the tariff developments and market sell-off. In our view, silver fundamentals are at the cusp of a potential squeeze higher. The critical driver remains retail buying, as represented by silver held in ETFs (see Figure 4).