Gold prices climbed in Asian trading on Tuesday as safe-haven demand picked up amid heightened concerns over the Federal Reserve’s independence after President Donald Trump announced he was removing Governor Lisa Cook.
The dollar’s decline also lent support to gold and other metals, which had experienced choppy trading recently due to uncertainty around U.S. interest rate policy.
Spot gold rose 0.3% to $3,375.29 an ounce, while October gold futures gained 0.2% to $3,423.95 per ounce as of 00:24 ET (04:24 GMT). Spot prices briefly reached a more than two-week high at $3,386.49 per ounce.
Trump Announces Firing of Fed Governor Cook
In a publicly released letter, Trump stated he was calling for Cook’s immediate removal, citing alleged mortgage fraud as justification.
Cook rejected the allegations, emphasizing that Trump had “no authority” to fire her and confirming she would remain in her role.
The move marks Trump’s latest attempt to exert influence over the Fed’s rate-setting decisions. Replacing Cook with a nominee of his choice could increase his sway on the Fed’s seven-member board, which already includes two of his appointees—Governor Christopher Waller and Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman.
Both Waller and Bowman had voted for a rate cut at the Fed’s July meeting, aligning with Trump’s requests.
Trump had previously suggested he might dismiss Fed Chair Jerome Powell, after Powell largely resisted immediate rate cuts. Powell last week partially relented, signaling a potential September cut amid some labor market softness, but remained largely non-committal on further easing.
The president’s repeated attacks on the Fed have reignited concerns over central bank independence, a factor that could damage U.S. economic credibility over the long term. This tension has helped drive safe-haven buying in gold and other precious metals.
Dollar Weakness Supports Metals
Other metals benefited from a softer dollar after Trump’s announcement, although the dollar index later rebounded above 98 points.
Spot platinum rose 0.1% to $1,346.40 per ounce, while spot silver increased 0.7% to $38.8525 per ounce. Both metals have outperformed gold recently, as investors sought opportunities in precious metals following years of relative underperformance.
Among industrial metals, London Metal Exchange copper futures rose 0.7% to $9,848.85 per ton, and COMEX copper futures added 0.4% to $4.550 per pound. Industrial metals had surged last week after Fed signals of potential rate cuts boosted risk appetite, a rally that had previously given only modest gains to gold and other precious metals.
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