PRECIOUS-Gold flat, pares gains after jumping 1% on vaccine hopes

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments)
* U.S. recovery could extend into next year -Fed's Powell
* U.S. equities recover over vaccine hopes
* SPDR gold holdings hit seven-year highs
* For an interactive graphic tracking the global coronavirus
spread, open https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser

By Asha Sistla
May 18 (Reuters) - Gold was little changed on Monday after
jumping 1% during the session, paring gains as U.S. equities
rose on hopes for a potential COVID-19 vaccine trial, while
auto-catalyst palladium rose to the highest in almost three
weeks.
Spot gold XAU= was little changed at $1,740.90 per ounce
by 1042 ET. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 fell 0.7% to $1,744.
"The trend is still to the upside, there's still plenty of
reason to buy gold - right now the reason why gold is kind of
wobbling around positive and negative change for the day is
because everybody is thinking 'risk-on' get into equities - as
markets across the board are up 3%," said Michael Matousek, head
trader at U.S. Global Investors.
Wall Street's main indexes surged as encouraging early data
from a potential coronavirus vaccine trial boosted sentiment,
with investors also counting on more stimulus to rescue the
economy from a deep slowdown. /N Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell highlighted that the
most important data for the U.S. economy right now are the
"medical metrics" around the pandemic and he outlined the likely
need for three to six more months of government financial help
for firms and families. SPDR Gold Trust GLD holdings, the world's largest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.8% to 1,113.78 tonnes
on Friday - its highest in more than seven years. GOL/ETF Data
published that day showed U.S. retail sales and industrial
production both plunged in April, with the coronavirus crisis
continuing to pummel the U.S. labour market. Data in Japan, meanwhile, confirmed that the world's
third-largest economy slipped into recession in the first
quarter. Markets are also keeping a wary eye on China's trade
relations with the United States. Among other precious metals, palladium XPD= soared 5.3% to
$2,001.54 an ounce after gaining more than 9% earlier.
"One of the drivers of palladium is catalytic converters and
there's a lot of talk about auto manufacturers ramping up
production. Some traders are probably thinking they're going to
get ahead of the curve and they start to buy palladium ahead of
the ramp up by the auto manufacturers," U.S. Global Investors'
Matousek added. Both platinum and palladium are used by automakers in
catalytic converters to clean car exhaust fumes.
Platinum XPT= rose 2.8% to $819.93 an ounce, while silver
XAG= jumped 3.1% to $17.13 - with both metals having hit a
two-month high earlier.