(RTTNews) – Gold prices traded higher on Tuesday as the clock ticks towards a deadline that U.S. President Donald Trump has set to bomb Iranian power plants if it does not open the Strait of Hormuz.
Spot gold jumped 0.9 percent to $4,691.99 an ounce while U.S. gold futures for June delivery were up 0.8 percent at $4,720.40.
Trump described a “significant proposal” received from Iran as “not good enough”, threatening to decimate Iran within four hours if it did not agree to a deal by Tuesday night.
“We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again, I mean complete demolition by 12 o’clock, and it’ll happen over a period of four hours, if we wanted to,” Trump told a press conference.
Iran rejected a U.S. proposal for ceasefire and sent back a 10-point proposal that outlines demands, including ending regional conflicts, a protocol governing safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of international sanctions and a commitment to reconstruct war-affected areas.
Iran’s military command said the U.S. president was “delusional” and called his warnings “rude, arrogant rhetoric and baseless threats”.
The dollar index traded sideways ahead of a slew of data releases this week —including the FOMC March Minutes, February personal income, March CPI and Q4 final GDP data.
As inflation risks mount, there are reduced expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.
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