Gold ticks up with budget deadlock

2025-05-21
Summary:

Gold prices rose to a one-week high Wednesday as US fiscal uncertainty boosted safe-haven demand. Trump pressures Republicans to back his budget plan.

Gold prices rose on Wednesday to their highest levels in a week on increasing safety demand amid US fiscal uncertainty. Trump is ramping up pressure on Republicans to support his centrepiece budget plan.

President Trump

Key House Republicans from blue states are opposed to the tax bill, which they say does not do enough to boost so-called SALT deductions for their constituents.


Currency options traders are now more pessimistic than they have ever been about the dollar's path over the next year, according to one commonly-cited measure of investor sentiment.


One-year risk reversals fell to minus 27 bps in favour of puts over calls for a proxy of Bloomberg's dollar gauge, surpassing even a level briefly hit at the outset of a pandemic five years ago.


Likewise, traders now hold some $16.5 billion in short dollar positions, near the most bearish since September, according to the CFTC data through May 13 aggregated by Bloomberg.


The PBoC expanded gold reserves for a sixth straight month in April, adding 2.2 metric tons to its gold holding. The WGC said Chinese investor interest in gold futures reached unseen levels in April.

XAUUSD

Bullion's rally continues after it bottomed out in mid-May. The risk is tilted towards the upside with a push above $3,260, and we see it rise towards $3,315.


Disclaimer: This material is for general information purposes only and is not intended as (and should not be considered to be) financial, investment or other advice on which reliance should be placed. No opinion given in the material constitutes a recommendation by EBC or the author that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. 

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