Precious metals split sharply Monday morning as traders digested President Donald Trump's weekend rejection of Iran's latest peace counterproposal, sending oil sharply higher while gold pulled back from recent records and silver pushed to new highs.
Gold Cools, Silver Breaks Higher
Gold opened at roughly $4,690 per troy ounce on Monday — down about 0.9% from Friday's settle — and slid to $4,673.90 by 6:45 a.m. ET, according to Yahoo Finance. Trading Economics pegged the metal at $4,699.07, off 0.36% on the day. The pullback came after gold had held above $4,700 through much of last week on safe-haven demand.
Silver, by contrast, extended its run. Spot silver opened at $80.15 and climbed roughly 1% to trade above $81 per ounce in early U.S. action, with futures touching $81.06. The white metal continues to benefit from a combination of industrial demand and the same geopolitical premium driving energy prices.
Trump's "Totally Unacceptable" Post
The catalyst was a Truth Social post from President Trump on Sunday calling Tehran's response to the U.S. peace framework "TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE." According to Iranian state media, the counter-proposal demanded recognition of Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for war damages — terms the White House dismissed outright.
Iran's foreign ministry responded that the Islamic Republic would "never bow," prolonging a conflict that has already stretched on for months and kept the world's most important oil chokepoint partially closed to commercial traffic.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reinforced the harder line in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview, telling correspondent Lesley Stahl the war "is not over" because "there is more work to be done." Netanyahu noted Iran has neither surrendered its enriched uranium stockpile nor dismantled enrichment sites, and continues to back regional proxies and advance its ballistic missile program.
Crude Surges, Equities Wobble
The energy market did the heavy lifting. Brent crude jumped 3.17% to $104.50 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate climbed 3.21% to roughly $98.48, per CNBC. Brent's move marks one of its sharpest single-session gains since the conflict began and has revived concerns that a sustained Hormuz disruption could push WTI back through the psychologically important $100 mark.
U.S. equities opened cautious after last week's record run. S&P 500 futures were essentially flat, Dow futures slipped 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite traded roughly 0.3% lower in early action, with both benchmarks coming off all-time highs reached last week, according to CNBC's market wrap.
What's Next This Week
With Q1 earnings season largely behind investors, focus shifts to two macro events that could whipsaw the gold-silver-oil complex further:
- April CPI data, due midweek, which will test the Federal Reserve's "hold" stance after the central bank kept rates unchanged last month
- The Trump-Xi summit, where energy security, rare earths, and the Iran file are all expected to surface
Bloomberg's markets desk noted that the combination of higher oil, sticky inflation data, and a fading peace dividend has analysts re-examining the case for gold above $4,800 — even as Monday's tape showed the metal isn't immune to short-term profit-taking when silver and crude are doing the work.
For now, the message from the tape is clear: every Truth Social post out of the Oval Office is a tradable event, and the Strait of Hormuz remains the single most important variable for the precious-metals and energy complex heading into the back half of May.
Sources: CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg, Washington Post, Al Arabiya, Trading Economics, U.S. News & World Report