Gold, which had seen a strong first quarter in 2025, experienced a temporary dip below $3,000 per ounce on April 7, amidst global market turmoil fueled by trade war fears.
Global Market Turmoil Hits Gold, but Precious Metal Recovers
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Safe-Haven Asset Credentials Questioned as Gold Drops Nearly 3%
After a rally that saw it reach new milestones in the first quarter of 2025, gold appeared to be a victim of the trade war, dropping below $3,000 per ounce for the first time since March 18. Data showed gold traded at just above $2,969 at one point on April 7 before staging a recovery.
The precious metal’s price performance came against the backdrop of plunging markets. Prior to its nearly 3% drop in the opening trading hours, gold had largely trended upward, rising from just over $2,500 per ounce at the start of 2025 to peak at more than $3,165 on April 3. With a year-to-date gain of more than 25% at the time, gold seemed to be investors’ go-to asset in uncertain times.
The revived perception of gold as a safe-haven asset among investors prompted U.S. investment banking giant Goldman Sachs to revise its year-end projection upward to more than $2,600 per ounce. At the time, gold’s contrasting fortunes with those of bitcoin, which is down 17% from its Jan. 1, 2025, helped to revive debate on which of the two assets is a better store of value.
However, the precious metal’s drop of nearly $100 in the opening trading hours on so-called Black Monday again appeared to upend its safe-haven asset credentials. Gold’s drop just hours before U.S. markets were set to open highlighted deepening fears that U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war was driving the global economy into a recession.
As reported by Bitcoin.com News, the trade war, which escalated with Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, left Asian markets reeling on April 7. On that day, Hong Kong’s main stock market index dropped more than 13%, its worst single day loss in more than two decades. An intervention by China’s sovereign wealth fund limited the Asian nation’s blue-chip stock index losses to 7%.
However, at the time of this report (April 7, 6:45 a.m. EST), gold, like global stocks, had recovered and was trading above $3,000 per ounce.
