The PRICE of GOLD jumped through last month's all-time record highs in US Dollar terms Thursday, peaking within 1% of $3000 per Troy ounce as New York's stock markets fell yet again on the latest escalation in President Trump's import tariff trade war.

 

Despite US inflation on the Producer Price Index slowing sharply to 3.2% per year – extending the slowdown shown in yesterday's Consumer Price data – tech stocks in the Nasdaq 100 index lost a further 0.8% while Washington's annual borrowing costs on 10-year Treasury bonds rose to new 2-week highs above 4.34%.

 

 

Jumping to late-February's London gold price benchmark peak of $2953 per Troy ounce, gold priced in Dollars then leapt to $2975, trading 8.0% higher from 1st November, eve of Trump's re-election to the White House.

 

That matches the Trump-to-date gains for UK Pound and Euro gold investors, too.

 

 

"Gold's price strength to date [is] primarily being driven by investors' and official institutions' greater willingness to pay for its lack of credit or counterparty risk," says a note from Australian bank Macquarie's analyst Marcus Garvey.

 

Hiking Macquarie's forecast for 2025's peak price from $3050 to $3500 per Troy ounce, consumer demand remains solid given the speed of gold's new record highs, Garvey says, with gold-backed ETF investment trusts seeing "ample scope" for fresh inflows.

 

Strategists at French bank BNP Paribas also raised their end-year prediction, up $100 from $3000 because "Trump tariff chaos and geopolitical shifts...have added a new layer of macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, providing a significant boost to gold."

 

"The potential for slower growth, higher inflation has been one of the key drivers why investors have really turned to gold this year," says Joni Teves, precious metals strategist at Swiss bank and London bullion market clearer UBS, repeating her outlook for gold to peak at $3100 before the end of the year.

 

"There's still a strong case for investors to add gold to their portfolios as a diversifier. If we get to a point where stagflationary fears start to gain momentum, that creates upside risks for gold."

 

Lambasting the European Union as "one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the world...formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States," US President Trump today announced 200% tariffs on all wine, Champagne and other alcohol exports from the 27-nation trading bloc after the EU put a 50% tariff on American whiskey in retaliation for Trump's own tit-for-tat levies.

 

Russia meantime rebuked the 'temporary ceasefire' agreed by Ukraine at this week's talks with the USA and other Western powers in Saudi Arabia.

 

"It is impossible to allocate [10%] for defense spending," said Taiwan's Premier Cho Jung-tai overnight after Donald Trump called for the island to pay more towards its own defence against the People's Republic of China.

 

Silver prices meantime fixed around $33.16 per Troy ounce at midday in London, the highest LBMA benchmark since Halloween and less than 4% below 23rd October's 12-year high, before rising another 50 cents in spot-market trade.