Investing.com -- Gold prices steadied Monday, after falling to a three-week low earlier in the session, but remained near record highs as investors sought out this traditional safe haven amid intensifying global trade tensions and mounting fears of a global recession.
At 08:40 ET (12:40 GMT), spot gold slipped 0.6% to $3,018.44 per ounce, bouncing after earlier falling to its lowest level since March 13, while gold futures expiring in June rose 0.1% to $3,036.71 an ounce.
Gold steadies after profit-taking
Gold had hit consecutive record highs last week, but saw some selling early Monday as investors banked some profits.
"Gold - traditionally a safe haven - tumbled from a record high it had reached earlier last week as investors sold off the precious metal along with other asset classes to cover losses elsewhere," said analysts at ING, in a note.
"Still, we believe this should be short-lived, with escalating trade actions likely to continue to bolster safe-haven buying."
U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled last week a blanket 10% tariff on all imports and higher, targeted duties of up to 49% on goods from key trading partners, including China and the European Union.
The move has rattled global markets, with China retaliating with a 34% tariff on a wide range of U.S. imports and the EU signaling a coordinated response. The escalating trade war has stoked fears of a sharp slowdown in global growth.
Goldman Sachs raised its forecast for a 2025 recession to 45%, up from 35% just a week earlier, while JPMorgan increased its estimate for the likelihood of a global recession this year to 60%, from a prior 40%.
The continued weakness in the U.S. dollar, and growing bets of Federal Reserve interest rate cuts provided some support to gold, as the decline was much less compared to other financial markets.
Silver Futures jumped 2.7% to $30.005 an ounce, while Platinum Futures were down 1% to $905.90 an ounce.
Copper slips on recession concerns
Copper prices fell sharply Monday on concerns the global trade war will severely hit economic activity, and thus demand for this industrial metal.
“A global trade war is bearish for industrial metals in the context of slowing global growth. China is the biggest consumer of industrial metals, so a trade war with the US is of particular interest for metals markets,” ING analysts added.
Benchmark Copper Futures on the London Metal Exchange fell 2.2% to $8,565.60 a ton, while Copper Futures expiring in May slumped 5.5% to $4.1650 a pound.
(Ayushman Ojha contribute to this article.)