Weekly Markets Monitor

Trade tensions steered sentiment last week. Trump's temporary tariff relief boosted optimism, but mixed economic data and lingering trade uncertainty kept volatility elevated.

Last week, the US rattled global markets with unexpectedly aggressive reciprocal tariffs, prompting swift retaliation from China and potential countermeasures from others. The aggressive moves raised fears of slower growth, higher inflation, and job losses, overshadowing otherwise positive economic data.

Markets focused on trade tensions last week, as a new 25% US auto import tariff and upcoming retaliatory tariffs weighed on sentiment. Stagflation worries added to the pressure.

Gold finally closed above the US$3,000/oz threshold. It has so far rejected technical resistance at $3,040/3,050/oz and the market is seen as highly overstretched, with a possible (healthy) pause in the core uptrend on the cards.