Gold futures were little changed to kick off a trading week. Financial markets were swimming in a sea of red ink as tariff and recession fears traversed a stormy Wall Street.
April gold futures dipped $0.90, or 0.03%, to $2,913.20 per ounce at 15:36 GMT on Monday on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold is coming off a weekly gain of 0.4% and is up nearly 11% this year.
Silver, the sister commodity to gold prices, remained firmly above $32 to start the trading week. April silver futures tumbled $0.079, or 0.24%, to $32.73 an ounce. The white metal surged 1.4% last week and is up close to 12% year-to-date.
US stocks sank on Monday when President Donald Trump declined to rule out a recession in a weekend Fox News interview.
“I hate to predict things like that,” Trump said. “There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big — we’re bringing wealth back to America. It takes a little time.”
Tariffs have caused market turmoil, leading to broader recession concerns. Downturn fears were exacerbated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow Model estimate, which now signals a 2.4% contraction in the first quarter.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index is now in contraction territory, meaning it is down 10% from its high.
“We are in the throes of a manufactured correction,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, according to CNBC. “I say manufactured because it’s really based in response to the new administration’s tariff programs, or at least threats of tariffs, and what kind of an impact that will have on the economy. Now, with people talking about potential recession, I think it’s just adding to investor concern.”
But Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick believes there is “absolutely not” a chance that the United States will slip into a recession.
Investors do not believe it as they have poured into safe-haven assets, including US Treasury securities.
US Treasury yields were red across the board on Monday, with the benchmark ten-year yield down 9.7 basis points to 4.221%. The two-year yield erased 7.9 basis points to 3.923%, and the 30-year yield fell 8.4 basis points to 4.532%.
The greenback was flat as the US Dollar Index (DXY), a gauge of the buck against a weighted basket of currencies, edged up 0.03% to 103.87. The DXY fell 2.7% last week and is down more than 4% this year.
Gold is sensitive to falling interest rates and a weaker US dollar because the former influences the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion and the latter makes it cheaper for foreign investors to purchase dollar-denominated assets.
In other metal markets, April copper futures dropped $0.0344, or 0.73%, to $4.6755 per pound. April platinum futures rose $5.80, or 0.6%, to $972.30 an ounce. April palladium futures dipped $2.00, or 0.21%, to $953.50 per ounce.