Gold futures climbed 1.6% on Monday morning in New York, on track to snap a six-session losing streak.
The yellow metal’s surge came on the heels of escalating rhetoric from Moscow after reports indicated that President Joe Biden had authorized Ukraine to launch strikes on Russian territory using American-made long-range missiles.
This marks a significant policy shift by the outgoing administration ahead of Donald Trump's January inauguration.
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Such strikes would represent "a qualitatively new round of tension" with the U.S., Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said per Reuters.
In September, Putin had already declared that the U.S.’s allowing Ukraine to fire Western missiles into Russian territory would mean NATO's direct participation in the war.
On Monday, Peskov reiterated this stance, accusing the Biden administration of “adding fuel to the fire” as its term winds down.
Reports confirmed that thousands of North Korean troops have been deployed to Russia's Kursk region to aid Moscow's forces following a Ukrainian incursion.
The rally in gold, tracked by the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD), mirrored gains across the broader commodity complex, with oil and natural gas prices also advancing.
Futures on West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil rose 0.8%, while Henry Hub U.S. natural gas futures surge by nearly 4% amid concerns over energy disruptions in Europe.
On Saturday, Gazprom, the state-controlled Russian natural gas giant, halted supplies to Austria, heightening fears of energy shortages in Europe as the winter season approaches. The decision followed Friday's rare hour-long phone call between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Putin, their first direct communication in nearly two years.
Risk-Off Sentiment Hits European Markets
The heightened geopolitical risks weighed on European equities Monday.
The Euro Stoxx 50, broadly tracked by the SPDR DJ Euro STOXX 50 ETF (NYSE:FEZ), fell 0.7%, while Italy's FTSE MIB, tracked by the iShares MSCI Italy ETF (NYSE:EWI), was the hardest hit among major indices, sliding 1%.
A hour ahead the Wall Street market open, futures on major U.S. indices hovered near flat, signaling caution among investors hesitant to buy the dip after last week’s declines.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, fell a combined 1.9% on Thursday and Friday as hawkish comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell and uncertainty surrounding Donald Trump’s potential economic policies dampened investor sentiment.
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