8-week streak of gold price increases stopped by the strength of the USD

Gold futures for April hit a record high of $2,968.9 an ounce on Monday but then fell significantly in the remaining days of the week. Gold lost 40.3 USD on Tuesday and decreased by 43.9 USD on Thursday.

In the trading session on Friday, gold opened at 2,889 USD/ounce, reaching the lowest level of the day at 2,844.10 USD/ounce before recovering to 2,863.3 USD/ounce at the end of the session, down 24.50 USD compared to the beginning of the day.

This development caused gold prices to fall a total of 86.8 USD/ounce for the week, ending a long streak of increases since the end of December. However, gold still recorded an increase of 30.3 USD/ounce (1.07%) in February.

The downward pressure on gold prices comes from the rising momentum of the USD, when the USD Index increased by 0.94% for the week, reaching 107.55 points.

Market sentiment has also been strongly affected by US President Donald Trump's threat to impose import tariffs on Canada and Mexico from next week. Previously, concerns about rising inflation due to new tariffs have boosted gold's rally.

However, after the US Commerce Department released the January PCE inflation Index on Friday, market sentiment has changed. Data shows that the PCE index - the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation measure - increased by 2.5% compared to the same period last year, down from 2.6% in December and in line with analysts' forecasts. The core PCE index (excluding food and energy prices) also fell to 2.6% from 2.9% previously.

These figures make analysts believe that the Fed will likely keep interest rates unchanged for most of 2025, even as the Trump administration continues to threaten to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, and proposes to double the tax on Chinese goods to 20%.

Investors are now waiting to see whether Donald Trump will actually implement the tariffs next week and its impact on inflation in the coming time.

In other major markets, WTI crude oil prices fluctuated around 69.25 USD/barrel. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury note is currently at 4.252%. Bitcoin fell below $80,000 in the session on Friday, marking a 20% decrease compared to last Thursday.