The dollar significantly lost momentum over the course of the past few days, but the same can’t be said about gold. Gold ticked up as the dollar dropped, rising time and time again throughout this week until it closed in on its all-time-high hit on Friday.
Gold has been on the steady rise for quite some time, and it was trading at $2,772.79 per ounce on Friday. Its price grew by 2,7% this week, and it was only $17.3 away from reaching its record high of $2,790.15 hit on October 31, 2024.
The recent rise of the dollar is connected to the lack of clarity around President Donald Trump’s policy plans. The tariff uncertainty destabilized the dollar since Trump took office, and everyone has their eyes on February 1, when tariffs on Mexico, Canada, China, and the European Union could be announced.
Ryan McIntyre, senior portfolio manager at Sprott Asset Management, discussed the rise of the dollar with Reuters, saying, “There are uncertainties with proposed tariffs and other things, and gold typically does well when there’s a large or even a moderate amount of uncertainty in the market, it’s a natural place where people gravitate to.”
Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities, also connected the rise of the dollar to Trump’s approach to tariffs, telling Reuters that “the gold market perceives perhaps a higher inflation and possibly a central bank that’s more accommodative.”