Zaner Daily Precious Metals Commentary
Monday, May 12, 2025Gold retreats to the $3,200 zone on trade optimism, easing of geopolitical tensions
OUTSIDE MARKET DEVELOPMENTS: Weekend trade talks between the U.S. and China bore fruit with both countries agreeing to reduce tariffs for 90 days as negotiations continue. In a joint statement, the parties recognized the "importance of a sustainable, long-term, and mutually beneficial economic and trade relationship."
The U.S. will temporarily lower its tariffs on Chinese imports from 145% to 30%, and China will reduce its levies on American goods from 125% to 10%. China also agreed to "adopt all necessary administrative measures to suspend or remove the non-tariff countermeasures taken against the United States since April 2," according to the statement.
The progress made in Switzerland significantly dials back trade tensions, stokes risk appetite, and saps gold's haven bid. U.S. shares are up sharply. Make no mistake though, there's still plenty of uncertainty out there, and markets want to see further progress toward trade deals with China and other key trading partners.
The dollar index surged to a five-week high as trade deal hopes bolstered economic optimism. A week after the Fed announced that it would indeed remain on hold, rate cut hopes have been further diminished.
A fragile ceasefire is holding between India and Pakistan, although each has accused the other of violations.
"The underlying issues remain, and every six months, one year, two years, three years, something like this happens and then you are back at the brink of war in a nuclear environment," acknowledged Pakistan's National Security Advisor.
President Trump is taking credit for the ceasefire. "We stopped a nuclear conflict, I think it could have been a bad nuclear war, millions of people could have been killed, so I'm very proud of that," he said.
Trump used trade as the carrot. "We're going to do a lot of trade with Pakistan, we're going to do a lot of trade with India," he pledged. Some in India (and probably Pakistan as well) are reportedly not happy with the outcome. The situation remains tense.
President Putin of Russia proposed direct peace talks with Ukraine in Turkey. “Russia is ready to negotiate without any preconditions,” said Putin.
"I have openly expressed my readiness to meet. I will be in Türkiye," responded President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. Zelenskyy also requested that President Trump attend that meeting.
Hamas has released American/Israeli hostage Edan Alexander. "This comes as part of the mediators’ efforts to reach a ceasefire, open the border crossings, and allow the entry of aid and relief for our people in the Gaza Strip," Hamas said in a statement.
Key U.S. inflation and retail sales data for April come out this week. There may be some tariff-related distortions, so it's not clear where the actual prints will fall in relation to median expectations. Any significant misses may be discounted by the trade, particularly in light of the uptick in trade optimism.
Treasury Budget for April comes out this afternoon. The market is expecting $256.0 bln.
GOLD
OVERNIGHT CHANGE THROUGH 6:00 AM CST: -$115.89 (-3.48%)
5-Day Change: -$95.66 (-2.87%)
YTD Range: $2,607.16 - $3,495.89
52-Week Range: $2,287.64 - $3,495.89
Weighted Alpha: +37.54
Gold came under heavy selling pressure at the Asian open on news that the U.S. and China had reached at least an interim trade agreement. A firmer dollar and easing geopolitical tensions applied additional pressure to the yellow metal.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that peace is breaking out everywhere (including in the trade war), but risk-on sentiment has shifted attention away from the safe-haven appeal of gold, back to risk assets. The DJIA is up more than 1,000 points today.
Last week saw net outflows in global gold ETFs for the first time in 15 weeks. The net outflow was just 4.4 tonnes as buying in Asia offset more than a third of North American and European selling.

Net speculative long positions in futures fell 0.8k to 162.5k contracts in the week ended 9-May, versus 163.2k in the previous week, according to the latest COT report. It was the third straight weekly decline and the lowest net long positioning in over a year.

The 01-May low at $3,204.91 has successfully contained the downside thus far, keeping the range intact. My favored scenario continues to call for consolidation within the $3,495.89/$3,204.91 range.
In Friday's comment, I suggested there would be opportunities on both sides of the market. While I was not expecting the lower boundary to be challenged the very next session, today's price action is not inconsistent with recent volatility.
Further progress on trade and mitigation of geopolitical risks would leave gold vulnerable to additional tests of the $3,200 zone. Penetration would shift focus to Fibonacci support at $3,165.84. The 50-day moving average is currently at $3,145.86 and should rise to bolster the Fibonacci level by midweek.
The high from earlier U.S. trading at $3,245.22 marks initial resistance. The halfway back point of today's decline comes in at $3,267.46, and there's a minor chart point at $3,280.91. More important resistance is marked by the 20-day MA and today's Asian high at $3,318.86/$3,325.08.
Penetration of the latter is needed to clear the way for a move back into the upper half of the range above $3,350.40. The $3,431.46/63 highs from last week are seen as a formidable barrier ahead of the key $3,500 zone.
SILVER
OVERNIGHT CHANGE THROUGH 6:00 AM CST: -$0.744 (-2.27%)
5-Day Change: +$0.129 (+0.40%)
YTD Range: $28.565 - $34.543
52-Week Range: $26.524 - $34.853
Weighted Alpha: +5.68
Silver slumped back to the $32 zone, weighed by the sharp drop in gold and a stronger dollar. While still lower on the day, the white metal is more than 50¢ off the intraday low, buoyed by optimism on trade.
As long as the trade sees progress on the trade front, I expect silver to outperform. The gold/silver ratio is testing back below 100 with potential for a challenge of support at 97.574 (23-Apr low).
Net speculative long positions in silver futures fell just 0.6k to 49.3k contracts in the week ended 9-May, versus 49.9k in the previous week, according to the latest COT report. Spec long positioning remains fairly stable despite the recent volatility.

Important support marked by the 01-May low at $31.762 was left unmolested. While further tests of the downside can not be ruled out, this support zone has been reinforced.
The recent inability of silver to sustain gains above $33 remains a concern, and the next test above this level may have to come without the help of gold. Once again, I'm watching the convergence of the 20- and 50-day moving averages at $32.719/745 on a close basis.
A close above this level would bode well for a test of the European high at $32.972. Above $33, last week's highs at $33.231/239 will be back in play.
Other significant tiers of resistance are noted at $33.662 (25-Apr high), the high for the year at $34.543, and the 22-year high from October at $34.853. It would take a breach of the latter to truly consider the longer-term uptrend off the $11.703 from March 2020 to be back underway.
Peter A. Grant
Vice President, Senior Metals Strategist
Zaner Metals LLC
312-549-9986 Direct/Text
[email protected]
www.zanermetals.com
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