The Gold price came under pressure on Friday and ultimately closed trading down 1.7% at $4,250 per troy ounce, Commerzbank's commodity analyst Carsten Fritsch notes.
"This was triggered by statements from US President Trump, who said that the additional 100% import tariffs on Chinese products he had announced were not sustainable, thus signaling his willingness to negotiate. Prior to this, the price had reached a new record high of just under $4,380. The subsequent price decline reduced the weekly gain to 5.8%. The last time the Gold price rose more sharply was six months ago in the wake of the tariff chaos."
"Before the price decline, it even looked like the strongest weekly increase since the collapse of Lehman in September 2008. Since the beginning of the year, the price of Gold has risen by more than 60%. At this point in time, that would mark the strongest annual increase since 1979. At that time, the price of Gold more than doubled within a year due to several geopolitical crises (the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan) and double-digit US inflation."
"The rise culminated in January 1980 with a record high of $850, which was not exceeded in nominal terms until 2008. In real terms, the 1980 high has now also been exceeded when the Gold price is deflated using the US consumer price index. We are therefore dealing with an absolutely exceptional year for Gold."