Gold prices heading for negative week as safe haven demand wanes

Investing.com--Gold prices fell Friday, pulling back further from recent five-week highs as optimism over U.S. trade deals dented haven demand. 

At 05:00 ET (09:00 GMT), spot gold fell 0.6% to $3,347.82 an ounce, while gold futures fell 0.7% to $3,349.45/oz. 

Gold, platinum set for negative week; silver outperforms 

Precious metal prices were dented this week by improving risk appetite, as a U.S.-Japan trade deal and optimism over the potential for more agreements spurred buying into riskier instruments. 

Wall Street notched a series of record highs this week, following reports that Washington and Brussels were moving closer to a trade agreement.

Reports suggest that the deal under discussion could include a baseline 15% US tariff on EU goods, with certain exemptions, largely matching the agreement with Japan signed earlier in the week. 

Gold prices were trading lower this week, while spot platinum– which fell 0.5% to $1,433.30/oz on Friday– was down 1.5% this week.

Silver outperformed and was headed for a weekly advance of just less than 2%, although spot silver slipped 0.2% to $39.130/oz on Friday. 

Precious metal prices were dented by improving risk appetite, as a U.S.-Japan trade deal and strong AI-linked corporate earnings spurred buying into equities. 

Among industrial metals, benchmark copper futures on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.3% to $9,844.45 a ton, while COMEX copper futures rose 0.4% to $5.8240 a pound. 

U.S. copper futures were headed for a 4% weekly rise, as they remained underpinned by expectations of tighter domestic supplies due to Trump’s trade tariffs. 

Fed meeting, Trump tariff deadline in focus 

The focus next week will be on the Federal Reserve, which is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged despite repeated calls from U.S. President Donald Trump to cut rates.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has signaled that uncertainty over the inflationary effects of Trump’s tariffs was likely to keep the Fed from cutting any time soon, which has put him at odds with Trump and his allies, who have clamored for Powell’s removal in recent months. 

Trump visited the Fed on Thursday to personally inspect an ongoing renovation project, which has hinted at being a potential means to fire Powell.

Trump’s August 1 deadline for his steep trade tariffs will also pass next week, with focus squarely on whether more trade deals will be met. 

Trump’s 50% tariffs on copper are also expected to take effect, potentially sparking local supply shortfalls and driving up U.S. copper prices.

Ambar Warrick contributed to this article