Vicky McKeever writes:
Gold prices fell on Tuesday morning, after US president Donald Trump delayed raising tariffs on the European Union (EU), easing concerns about trade tensions.
Trump said in a social media post on Friday that the EU had been “very difficult to deal with” and was recommending that tariffs on imports from the bloc be raised to 50% from 1 June.
Following a conversation on Sunday between Trump and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, the US president then said he would delay imposting the 50% levies until 9 July.
UK and US markets were closed on Monday for public holidays but other stock markets rose on the news of a delay, with the pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) gaining 0.9% in the session.
The UK’s FTSE 100 (^FTSE) advanced 0.6% shortly after the market open on Tuesday morning, while US stock market futures jumped, as the postponing of levies on the EU bolstered investor optimism.
Gold prices declined on Tuesday morning as stocks rose, signalling investors’ pivot back into risk assets away from the precious metal, which is considered to act as a safe haven amid economic and geopolitical uncertainty.
Gold futures (GC=F) were down 1.7% at $3,307.80 per ounce at the time of writing, while the spot gold price fell 1% to $3,308.48 per ounce.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: “It remains to be seen as to when investors, businesses and consumers grow weary of needing to react slavishly to every tariff pronouncement, if they have not already.
“The constant back and forth has made planning all but impossible, and many companies over the recent quarterly reporting season have opted not to give outlook figures as a result of the ever-changing goalposts.”