Gold prices edged higher in early European trade on Monday, lifted by renewed haven demand amid escalating U.S.-EU trade tensions. Spot gold rose 0.5% to $3,365.49/oz, while futures for September delivery added 0.4% to $3,372.88/oz. Gains were also supported by a slight pullback in the U.S. dollar after a two-week rally.
The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that U.S. President Donald Trump may demand a 15% baseline tariff on most European imports—above the 10% previously expected. The move has caught EU negotiators off guard, prompting calls for retaliatory measures including digital service restrictions, procurement limits, and potential activation of the EU’s “anticoercion” mechanism.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reiterated Sunday that Trump’s August 1 tariff deadline remains firm. With more than $5 billion in daily U.S.-EU trade at stake, uncertainty continues to support safe-haven flows into gold and other precious metals.
Platinum surged 1.3% to $1,443.30/oz, approaching its highest level since 2014.
Silver gained 0.7% to $38.46/oz, near a 14-year peak.
Both have outperformed gold year-to-date, with silver up 53.5% and platinum up 29.2%, driven by tightening supply expectations and strong industrial demand.
Asian equities showed mixed performance:
CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite rose 0.4% and 0.5% respectively after the PBoC kept its loan prime rate unchanged, signaling steady monetary support.
Hang Seng gained 0.5%, driven by tech stocks and hitting a 3-year high above 25,000.
ASX 200 fell amid profit-taking from recent highs.
Nikkei 225 futures rose 0.2%, despite Japan’s ruling coalition losing its upper house majority in weekend elections.
Meanwhile, Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) announced a $3 billion investment in AI and cloud infrastructure across Germany ($2B) and the Netherlands ($1B) over the next five years. The move highlights intensifying competition in European cloud services amid rising demand from enterprise AI applications.
To track macroeconomic policy actions and commodity trends, the following APIs were used:
Commodities API — Real-time and historical data for gold, silver, and platinum.
Economics Calendar API — Captures key rate decisions and policy events such as China’s loan prime rate hold.
