Overview
- Spot gold traded near $4,115–$4,145 and was on track for a roughly 3% weekly decline, its first drop in nine weeks.
- Prices recoiled from a record near $4,381 an ounce with a 5%–6% single‑day slide, the biggest in more than a decade, as profit‑taking and stretched technicals took hold.
- A firmer dollar and signals of a potential U.S.–China trade thaw, including a Trump–Xi meeting next week, reduced near‑term safe‑haven demand.
- Gold rebounded on Thursday after new U.S. sanctions on Russian oil companies revived geopolitical risk buying.
- ETF holdings fell with the largest single‑day outflow in five months, traders largely priced a near‑term Fed rate cut, and longer‑term views diverged with JPMorgan projecting about $5,055 per ounce by late 2026.