Gold Up 22% in Trump's First 100 Days, Best Since Nixon
Tuesday, 4/29/2025 16:26
GOLD BULLION gave back half of yesterday's $85 rally on Tuesday, cutting its Dollar-price gain across the first 100 days of Donald Trump's second term in the White House towards 22% as "corporate chaos" continued amid the confusion and geopolitical uncertainty spurred by the US President's trade tariffs.
With the S&P500 index of America's largest corporations down 7.5% since Trump took the oath of office on 20th January, "Trump's first 100 days mark worst for US stock market since Gerald Ford," says the
Financial Times, if not "almost as bad as Nixon's" according to
Barron's and
Investor's Business Daily.
Gold, in contrast, has enjoyed its strongest first 100 days since the 39.1% jump made when
Richard Nixon began his second term in 1973 − a presidency ending in disgrace 15 months later with the Watergate scandal, and followed by a 21.9% rise during the first 100 days of Nixon's vice-presidential replacement, Gerald Ford.
Trading at $3310 per Troy ounce on Tuesday, gold bullion over the past 100 days has gained 22.2% in US Dollar terms, setting 26 fresh all-time record highs.
Gold in Euros and UK Pounds, on the other hand, has risen by 11.4% and 11.9% respectively, making barely half the 100 days' gain of Dollar investors as Trump's "trade war" shock to the financial markets crushed the FX value of the US currency to sudden 3-year lows.
A hundred days into Trump's second presidency, "General Motors, Kraft Heinz and Electrolux on Tuesday joined the diverse list of companies that have pulled forecasts for 2025 or slashed outlooks," says Reuters, as uncertainty around
Trump's Liberation Day trade tariffs "sends a chill through the corporate world."
Delivery giant UPS said it's cutting 20,000 jobs in anticipation of lower volumes from customers of its No.1 partner, Amazon.
Auto-giant GM also delayed its quarterly investor call to Thursday, "pending possible changes to tariff policy."
"Gold prices have pulled back as Trump used softer language" around tariffs, says Bernard Dahdah, precious metals analyst at French investment bank Natixis.
"Taking the view that Trump's tariff threats have peaked, combined with an eventual Iran nuclear deal and a Russia-Ukraine armistice, this could be a turning point towards a slowdown in the growth pace for gold."
Gold's $3500 record high last Tuesday "was in massively overbought territory," agrees chief analyst Rhona O'Connell at brokerage StoneX, "and the ensuing correction has been extended by some easing in trade and potentially also Ukraine tensions.
"The risk premium is now being unwound and unless tensions build again, we will stand by our view that we have seen the top."
Any reduction of tariff risks "would remove one of the legs of the rally, without a doubt," says James Steel, precious metals analyst at global bullion bank HSBC, stressing that it's been the uncertainty around Trump's trade policy which most hurt stocks and pushed gold higher.
"If we got some clarity on the tariff issue, that would help undermine it...[But] for the past couple of years, it's been geopolitics in the driving seat.
"Gold being a hard asset and a safe haven will tend to be a winner out of that."
Silver meantime traded in London around $33.20 per Troy ounce on Tuesday, higher by 8.5% for Dollar investors from the start of Trump's first 100 days back in office, but down 1.7% in Euro terms and 1.1% lower from 20th January in UK Pounds.
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