Stock futures were falling on Friday, while gold was on the brink of passing $5,000 an ounce for the first time ever as the stunning rally in precious metal prices showed no signs of slowing down.
Futures tracking the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 97 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures fell 0.1% while contracts tied to the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were also down 0.1%.
“The market recovery continued yesterday, as easing geopolitical risks and a strong batch of US data led to growing optimism on the near-term outlook,” Deutsche Bank macro strategist Jim Reid wrote.
“For some assets, it was almost like the selloff never happened,” he added, noting that the Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, is now trading below the level it was at on Saturday, before Trump threatened the levies. The widely followed fear gauge measures S&P 500 options contracts to assess market uncertainty.
Gold futures climbed 0.4% to $4,933 an ounce on Friday, putting the yellow metal on the brink of the $5,000 level. Geopolitical risk and a weak dollar are driving up demand for bullion, which is already up 14% this year, XTB research director Kathleen Brooks said in a research note.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was flat at 4.25% on Friday. The dollar ticked up 0.1% against a weighted basket of its peers. Bitcoin, the large-cap cryptocurrency that tends to trade in line with risk sentiment, slipped 0.8% to $89,168.