Gold hits new high of US$3,500 as Trump’s attack on Fed sparks flight to haven
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Bullion gained as much as 2.2 per cent on April 22, following a 2.9 per cent jump the previous day.
PHOTO: REUTERS
SINGAPORE - Gold extended a blistering rally to rise above US$3,500 an ounce for the first time, as concerns that US President Donald Trump could fire Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell triggered a flight from US stocks, bonds and the dollar.
Bullion gained as much as 2.2 per cent on April 22, following a 2.9 per cent jump the previous day.
Mr Trump called on the Fed to cut interest rates immediately, a move seen as a threat to the US central bank’s independence that drove the dollar to the lowest since 2023.
“Gold’s rapid ascent this year tells me that markets have less confidence in the US than ever,” said Ms Lee Liang Le, an analyst at Kallanish Index Services.
“The ‘Trump Trade’ narrative has evolved into a ‘sell America’ narrative,” she said.
Gold has surged by a third in 2025 as trade tensions roiled markets and eroded trust in US dollar assets, boosting some traditional havens.
Flows into bullion-backed exchange-traded funds and central bank buying have supported the upswing, with prices gaining every month this year.
Banks have become progressively more positive about gold as this year’s rally has gone from strength to strength.
Among them, Goldman Sachs Group forecast the metal could hit US$4,000 an ounce midway through 2026.
Gold may be “the only true safe-haven asset left” as investors question US assets, including Treasuries, according to Jefferies.
Still, the rapid recent gain has stretched some closely watched metrics, suggesting the upswing could pause at some point. Bullion’s 14-day relative-strength index – a gauge of the pace and intensity of moves – topped 79, above the level of 70 that can point to an asset being overbought.
Gold for immediate delivery traded 1.8 per cent higher at US$3,484.19 an ounce at 2.27pm in Singapore, after easing back from its new all-time high.
The Bloomberg Dollar Index dropped again following a 0.7 per cent decline on April 21.
Bullion’s jump has lifted miners’ shares. In Hong Kong, stock in Zijin Mining Group, a leading Chinese metals producer, surged more than 6 per cent at one stage on April 22. It has rallied by more than a quarter this year. BLOOMBERG
