Gold futures hit a record high Friday following reports of an unexpected tariff on the precious metal as global stocks finished the week on a mixed note.
Wall Street enjoyed a sunny Friday led by the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index, which posted a second straight record, part of a buoyant session in New York amid optimism over artificial intelligence and less uncertainty over trade policy.
Investors are growing confident that President Donald Trump's constantly-changing US trade policy won't derail the surge in investment around artificial intelligence."Part of the relief was that the tariffs on a very important sector around the US outlook on earnings, which is tech and AI, is mostly left unaffected," said Angelo Kourkafas, senior global investment strategist at Edward Jones.Apple, which pledged increased US investment at a White House meeting this week, won 4.2 percent, its third straight significant gain.
Gold futures shot to a new all-time intraday high at $3,534.10 an ounce after the Financial Times reported that Washington had classified one-kilo bars, the most traded type of bullion on Comex -- the world's biggest futures market, as subject to "reciprocal" tariff rates.
One-kilo bars make up the largest part of Switzerland's gold shipments to the United States. Imports from Switzerland face a 39-percent reciprocal tariff from Thursday.
The FT said 100-ounce bars would also face the levy.
The levy caused "shock and confusion" in markets, said Han Tan, chief market analyst at Nemo. money trading group.
After hitting the high, the gold future price later pulled back to around $3,454 an ounce.
A White House official told AFP that the Trump administration plans to "issue an executive order soon clarifying misinformation about the tariffing of gold bars and other specialty products.
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