Precious Metals Slip as Nato Backs 'Daddy' Trump's F-Bomb
Wednesday, 6/25/2025 15:22
PRECIOUS METALS gave back an overnight rally in London on Wednesday, with gold and silver trading lower for the week so far − but platinum prices still showing a gain − as the ceasefire held between Iran and Israel following US President Trump's weekend airstrikes on the Islamist regime's nuclear research program.
"Our nuclear installations have been badly damaged," admitted a spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry to Al Jazeera TV,
asserting Iran's right to develop nuclear energy but refusing to be drawn on Trump's claim that Sunday's bombing "obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities" − a claim
flatly refuted by a leaked US intelligence report.
"Thank you, Mr.President," said Israeli prime minister Netanyahu today,
re-tweeting a video of Trump saying that Iran "won't be building bombs for a long time" even as Tehran threatened to cease all co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.
"Daddy has to sometimes use strong language," said Nato secretary general Mark Rutte meantime of
yesterday's F-bomb from Trump attacking both Israel and Iran.
Rutte also added to his 'fawning' text message to Trump by
wanting to "say thank you" too − this time for the President pushing the North Atlantic military alliance's other 31 members into spending 5% of their annual GDP on defense at this week's summit in The Hague by threatening to walk away from the key Article 5 promise of mutual deterrence.
"Peak WWIII risk is behind us," says precious metals strategist Nicky Shiels at Swiss bullion refining and finance group MKS Pamp.
So "markets can move to the 2nd order implication of less nukes in the Middle East...and risk-loving dovish comments" on US monetary policy.
With New York's stock markets edging higher at Wednesday's opening, the MSCI World Index of rich-economy equities traded flat from Tuesday's new record-high closing price, up 6.6% for 2025 to date.
Gold prices meanwhile edged back down to $3312 per Troy ounce after recovering almost $40 from Tuesday's 2-week low of $3295.
The
silver price slipped back below $36 per ounce but held 55 cents above yesterday's near 3-week low of $35.29.
Fellow industrial precious metal platinum briefly dipped back below $1300 before regaining $15 once more, trading 2.7% below last Thursday's spike to 10-year highs.
Betting on US interest rates continued to see the Federal Reserve making 2 cuts before the end of 2025 as senior Fed officials start jockeying to replace chairman Jerome Powell − again
lambasted for not cutting rates already by Trump on Tuesday, and
now joined by his vice-president J.D.Vance.
"We don't take into consideration political factors," said Powell to lawmakers in yesterday's regular testimony on monetary policy, refusing multiple times to comment on the economic wisdom or impact of Trump's trade tariffs.
"Geopolitical turmoil surrounding Israel, Iran and the US has kept gold well bid," says Jonathan Butler, head of business development & strategy at the precious metals division of Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi.
"[While] bullion now appears to be weakening as haven bids recede...a sharp drop in the Dollar and expectations of US rate cuts later this year remain gold-supportive."
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