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Gold Breaks $3,300 as Expanding Trade War Bolsters Haven Demand

Yihui Xie, Yvonne Yue Li and Jack Ryan

Wed, Apr 16, 2025, 5:35 AM 3 min read

Bullion gained as much as 2.7% on Wednesday to climb above $3,300 an ounce for the first time, surpassing the previous record set on Monday. The dollar fell to a fresh six-month low as traders were whiplashed again by a slew of tariff headlines, with Trump launching an investigation into the need for levies on critical minerals.

Gold briefly pared gains following a report that China is open to trade talks with the US if it names a point person to represent the country and shows respect by reining in disparaging remarks, according to a person familiar with the Chinese government’s thinking.

The precious metal has climbed 26% this year and hit a series of record highs as the escalating trade war creates anxiety over a possible global recession and as investors struggle to take long-term positions due to the unpredictability of tariff announcements from Washington.

“I’d love to have a pound for every time someone said it’s a record high in gold in the last few weeks,” Evy Hambro, thematic and sector investing global head at Blackrock Inc., said on Bloomberg Television. “The gold market is kind of thriving in this period of uncertainty, but the foundations are very tangible and real.”

Leading banks remain optimistic about bullion’s prospects over the coming quarters as investors add to holdings in gold-backed exchange-traded funds and central banks continue to accumulate the metal. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is forecasting that prices will rally to $4,000 an ounce by mid-2026.

In a Bank of America global fund manager survey this week, 42% of respondents expected gold to be the best performing asset class in 2025, up from 23% in March.

Nearly half of respondents also thought “long gold” is currently the most crowded trade, knocking “long Magnificent Seven” — which refers a group of high-performing and influential US companies — off the top position it has held for two years straight.

The US administration also announced investigations this week into semiconductors and pharmaceutical imports, after placing sector-specific tariffs on steel and aluminum, automobiles and car parts. It also said it’s negotiating with dozens of other trading partners to lower trade barriers in exchange for relief on higher duties.

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