Gold Drops as Traders Reassess Need for Havens After Trade Truce

  • May 13, 2025

(Bloomberg) — Gold ( GOLD ) fell for the second time in three days as cooling trade tensions between the US and China drove a reallocation away from havens.

Bullion dropped almost 1%, eclipsing a modest gain on Tuesday, after Washington and Beijing reached a truce in their trade fight, lowering many tariffs for 90 days. The breakthrough — which came after a weekend meeting in Switzerland — rekindled an appetite for risk assets among investors.

The precious metal remains more than a fifth higher this year, after peaking at a record above $3,500 an ounce last month as trade tensions flared. Investors had feared that the confrontation could spur a slowdown in growth or recessions, as well as faster inflation. Still, US data on the pace of price gains in April was benign.

“The US–China tariff rates surprised materially to the downside, which eases investor concerns around trade-driven growth risks,“ said Justin Lin, an analyst at Global X ETFs. “Capital is likely flowing out of defensive sectors and gold.”

Spot gold was 0.6% lower at $3,231.56 an ounce at 1:51 p.m. in Singapore, after gaining 0.4% on Tuesday. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was steady. Silver and palladium dropped, while platinum edged higher.