Daily summary: gold rebounds in an uncertain economic environment 🔔

Indices end the day in the red amid chaotic remarks from Donald Trump. Bitcoin is holding up relatively well, while gold is posting strong gains.

U.S. biotechnology is one of the worst-performing sectors today. The XBI subindex dropped 6% after President Donald Trump said that tariffs on pharmaceutical products would be announced within the next two weeks.

Take Two Interactive (TTWO.US), the company behind game franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, decided to release the second trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI at the start of the Wall Street session.

Palantir (PLTR.US) shares are down more than 13.5% today, despite the company posting a very strong Q1 2025 report and raising its guidance.

Today’s session is focused on gains in industrial commodities and precious metals. At the time of writing, WTI crude oil is up more than 3.4%, and gold is gaining 2.5%.

Gold is posting record YTD gains, already up over 26%. In the last 25 years, the highest annual return for gold was 30.2% — only slightly higher than the current performance achieved in just four months.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said that Washington is conducting trade talks with 17–18 partners and may announce fairly significant agreements “as soon as this week.”

Bessent admitted that China is not yet involved in the negotiations. Still, he forecasts “significant” tariff reductions and emphasized that strategic uncertainty is part of the negotiation process.

Although indices opened in negative territory, a new wave of declines followed Trump’s speech. The President suggested there is no rush to strike trade deals with certain countries, and such agreements may not come in the next few days — a statement that contradicts Bessent’s earlier remarks.

Regarding China, Trump believes that tariffs are reversing the country's trade deficit and that the U.S. “loses nothing” by not trading with China. He reaffirmed his commitment to protecting the domestic auto industry.

On the Forex market, the best-performing major currencies are the Japanese yen and British pound. On the other hand, the biggest losses are seen in the U.S. dollar and the Swiss franc.

In the crypto market, we are seeing broader declines, except for Bitcoin, which is down just 0.20%. Ethereum is down nearly 3.00% to $1,795, and other smaller projects are collectively losing 1.00% in market capitalization.