Gold leveled off Thursday after surging to a six-month peak amid anxiety over China and tensions between Russia and the West.
Markets have been on edge all week following data showing Chinese exports plunged, a signal of weak global demand for manufactured goods.
Russia's invasion of the Ukraine has also boosted the appeal of gold, long considered a safe haven in times of uncertainty.
April gold was flat at $1,370 an ounce, having surged from near $1,330 since Monday. Prices reached as high at $1,375 overnight.
Silver was up fractionally to $21.40, after bouncing around $21 earlier in the week.
Copper was down a bit $2.95 a pound, a day after touching a yearly low of $2.90.
Traders will finally get some first-tier U.S. data in the form of February's retail sales this morning.
Analysts expect retail sales to show a recovery from January's weak results. An increase of 0.2 percent is expected when retail sales are reported at 8:30 a.m. ET.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Market Analysis
May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.