Strong price gains in gold, silver, on safe-haven bids
NEW YORK (February 23) Gold and silver prices are trading sharply up in early U.S. trading Monday, with gold scoring a three-week high and silver a two-week high. Safe-haven demand is featured in the two metals as the new U.S. tariff regime has thrown new uncertainty into the marketplace—at a time when traders and investors are also uneasy about U.S.-Iran tensions. April gold was last up $89.30 at $5,170.00. March silver prices were up $4.037 at $86.345.
After Supreme Court tariff defeat, Trump levies new tariffs. President Trump said he will increase the global 10% tariff to 15%, effective immediately, in a social-media post on Saturday. “Trump is rushing to preserve his trade agenda following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that his use of an emergency-powers law to impose tariffs was illegal. The president's efforts to restore and maintain the tariffs will be subjected to fresh legal challenges, and he will face lawmakers on Tuesday as he delivers the State of the Union address to Congress in Washington,” said a Bloomberg report. The president said the U.S. would impose a levy on foreign goods, but the White House clarified it’s leaving in place an exemption for many goods shipped under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Read a weekend Bloomberg News headline: “Trump’s Treasured Negotiating Edge Dulled by Tariff Defeat.” Meantime, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said individual deals with trading partners, including China, the European Union, and South Korea, remain in place despite the Supreme Court's ruling. However, the European Union is poised to freeze the ratification process of its trade deal with the U.S. and is seeking more details from the Trump administration on its new tariff program. The main political groups in the European Parliament said they’ll suspend legislative work on approving the trade deal. Indian trade officials will postpone a trip to the U.S. aimed at finalizing their interim deal after the Supreme Court ruling. The talks set for this week will be rescheduled for a later date, according to officials in New Delhi familiar with the matter. Chinese President Xi Jinping got a boost in bargaining power after the Supreme Court ruling on Friday. “The removal of tariff threats will make it harder for Trump to press Xi for larger purchases of certain products and leaves him without a key weapon to strike back if Chinese negotiators make fresh demands,” Bloomberg said.
U.S., Iran to continue talks. The U.S. and Iran are set to resume negotiations this week over Iran’s nuclear program against a backdrop of massed U.S. military forces in the Middle East. The next round of talks in Geneva is slated for Thursday. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS on Sunday he saw a “good chance” of a diplomatic solution to the standoff over his country’s nuclear program, while reiterating Tehran won’t be pressured by the U.S. military buildup. Concerns about a Middle East conflict, coupled with several supply disruptions, have driven crude oil prices higher despite broad expectations for a global supply glut. A potential war would put shipments at risk in the Strait of Hormuz – the choke point for exports from the world’s top oil-producing region.
The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index slightly down, with crude oil prices near steady and trading around $66.50 a barrel. The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note is presently 4.07 percent.
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