Gold Price Steady 5% Off $3500, Trump 'Might Call' Powell, Not China
Thursday, 4/24/2025 17:55
The GOLD PRICE in London steadied on Thursday, trading 5.0% below Tuesday morning's fresh all-time high of $3500 but unchanged from what was a record high last weekend as global stock and bond markets rallied again on fresh signs that the US Trump administration is retreating from its attacks on both Chinese imports and the interest-rate policy of the Federal Reserve.
"No, I haven't called him. I might call him," President Trump said overnight about Fed chairman Jerome Powell after
denying any plans to fire the central bank chief he appointed during his first term in the White House.
"I believe he's making a mistake...He was recommended by a certain person that I'm not particularly happy with, but he will hopefully do the right thing.
"I think the right thing is to lower interest rates."
Washington's longer-term borrowing costs today fell for the 3rd session running in the bond market, down to 1-week lows of 4.32% per annum on 10-year Treasury debt, as betting rose that the Fed will make its next cut to overnight interest rates in June.
Gold bullion rose to $3326 per Troy ounce in London, centre of the world's bullion trading and storage network, some $60 above yesterday's 1-week lows.
Shanghai's gold premium to London earlier rose above $60 per Troy ounce, almost doubling the incentive for new imports into China from Wednesday's level and offering 8 times the typical margin.
Suggesting yet stronger demand for gold bullion in the precious metal's No.1 mining, importing, central-bank buying and private consumer nation, Shanghai's premium to London rose even as the Yuan price of gold landed in China fell for the 2nd day from Tuesday's fresh record high, fixing at ¥793 per gram.
Activity on the Shanghai Gold Exchange also fell for the 2nd session in a row but held close to
the highest Chinese gold trading volume since March 2020, start of the global Covid pandemic and lockdowns, as did derivatives contract volumes on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.
China's CSI300 index was left unmoved for the 6th session running despite the
Wall Street Journal reporting overnight that the Trump administration "is
considering slashing its steep tariffs on Chinese imports, in some cases by more than half...down to between roughly 50% and 65%" from
the 145% level already upturned by the President in press comments earlier this week.
"There are no winners in trade wars," said China's central bank chief Pan Gongsheng to a meeting of G20 officials in Washington on Wednesday alongside Beijing's Finance Minister Lan Fo'an.
Neither met with their US counterparts, despite Trump claiming that the White House is having "active" and "direct" talks with Beijing over trade −
a claim directly contradicted by his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
"All parties should strengthen cooperation and make efforts to prevent the global economy from sliding into a track of 'high friction, low trust'," said PBoC chief Pan.
Today the Chinese ambassadors to both Australia and Canada urged their hosts to work with Beijing to defend international trade against the "unilateral bullying" of the White House, repeating a phrase used Tuesday by Foreign Minister Wang Yi on a call with his UK counterpart David Lammy.
Beijing's Commerce Ministry accused the US of "unilateral bullying" in response to Trump's 'Liberation Day' trade-tariff announcements of 2nd April, as did President Xi on his visit last week to Vietnam, vowing to support Hanoi with "camaraderie plus brotherhood in taking a socialist path that suits its national conditions."
Today in New York, the price gap for June CME gold futures versus London bullion fell below $10 per ounce, very much in line with normal ranges for the most-active Comex contract after
the NYLON gold arb jumped as high as $60 in the run-up to Trump's 'Liberation Day' trade tariff announcements on 2nd April.
Gold stockpiles in CME-approved warehouses have now shrunk by 5.4% since those announcements confirmed that there would be
no US import tariffs on bullion.
Comex silver stocks, in contrast, have contracted by only 0.4% from their record high, not reached until last Thursday, as deliveries by ship − booked before 2nd April − continue to reach the USA.
With Comex silver futures edging back above London bullion on Thursday, albeit by only 2 cents after dropping to a very rare discount following Liberation Day, the price of spot silver today held onto yesterday's steep rally, trading at $33.50 per Troy ounce.
New York's S&P500 stock index meantime rose another 1.3%, cutting its year-to-date drop to 7.0%.
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