Gold Sinks Thru' $3300, Silver Unmoved by Trump's About-Turn on Powell and China
Wednesday, 4/23/2025 15:41
GOLD PRICES fell further on Wednesday, extending yesterday's 5% slump from new all-time highs as global stock markets rallied along with the US Dollar's FX rate after President Trump denied planning to fire Fed chair Jerome Powell and back-tracked on imposing 145% trade tariffs on China.
Silver in contrast was left entirely unmoved by gold's huge price swings, trading unchanged for the week so far at $33 per Troy ounce.
While Trump had
already delayed imposing heavy trade tariffs on the rest of the world, China supplies of 1/6th of all goods shipped into the USA, the world's No.1 importer nation.
"The big box CEOs flat out told [Trump] that prices will go up [and] shelves will be empty," news-site Axios reports of a private meeting held at the White House Monday.
Peaking early Tuesday just shy of $3500 per Troy ounce on
a surge in China gold trading, spot bullion quotes in London today fell below $3300 as Tokyo's stock market added 2.0% and the EuroStoxx 600 rose 1.5%.
New York's tech-heavy Nasdaq index then opened Wednesday 3.5% higher after rallying 2.6% on yesterday's about-turn by Trump, while the broader S&P500 also jumped again, cutting its loss since Trump won his second term in office last November to 5.9%.
"145% is very high and it won't be that high," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday when asked about his administration's
Liberation Day trade tariffs on China.
"It
won't be anywhere near that high. It'll come down substantially. But it won't be zero."
The policy change came after the CEOs of Walmart, Target and Home Depot − the USA's 3 largest retailers − apparently told Trump in a private meeting amid Monday's stock-market plunge back towards 12-month lows that "shelves will be empty" in as little as 2 weeks,
Axios reports.
As for Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell, "The press runs away with things. I have no intention of firing him...None whatsoever. Never did," Trump also said Tuesday.
Yet "Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!" the President had
tweeted last Thursday, before telling reporters that "I don't think he's doing the job...If I want him out,
he'll be out of there real fast" − comments widely seen as driving down stocks and the Dollar while
sending gold up to new record highs.
Trump advisor Kevin Hassett then confirmed Friday that
the White House was considering how to fire the US central bank's chief, saying "We need to rethink our response" to current Fed policy.
Trump himself then tweeted on Monday that the USA risked economic recession "unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW" before
claiming that Powell cut rates ahead of last year's Presidential election "in order to help" Democrat candidates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
"The President has made his position on the Fed and on Powell quite clear," confirmed White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday, shortly before Trump's about-turn.
"They have been
making moves and taking action in the name of politics rather than in the name of what's right for the American economy...for partisan reasons. The President wants to see interest rates lower."
With gold dropping to 1-week lows at $3265 per Troy ounce today − a fresh all-time high only last Wednesday − the Dollar rose to 1-week highs on its DXY index against the developed world's other major currencies, rising 1.1% from Monday's 3-year low.
Together, that erased April's previous 5.4% gains for gold priced in the Euro, now back at €2880 per ounce, while the UK Pound gold price cut its month-to-date rise to 1.8% at £2460.
Trump's about-turn "shows there are some guardrails around this President," the
Financial Times quotes Dec Mullarkey of $250 billion fund managers SLC Management.
"Clearly other folks have talked to [Trump] and explained that [firing Powell] would have caused huge volatility. [Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott] Bessent recognises that the integrity of markets has to be maintained."
With silver barely moved amid the stock-market and gold price action, copper prices today steadied after rallying by 1/5th from early April's low for 2025 so far, hit following Liberation Day after setting new all-time highs in late-March.
Crude oil fell back, however, halving the past fortnight's 8.1% rebound as major producer Kazakhstan said it will "prioritize national interests" rather than complying with output cuts announced last week by the Opec+ cartel.
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