The weakening of the dollar and the rise in the price of gold, which again set a historical record and exceeded $3,400 per ounce at the beginning of the working week, were explained by "a series of extravagant decisions." Experts call the most influential factor "the specter of a global trade war initiated by the United States."
This explanation was shared on Facebook by Danylo Hetmantsev, a Ukrainian politician, lawyer, scientist, People's Deputy from the "Servant of the People" faction, and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy.
He mentions that gold prices exceeded $3,400 per ounce at the start of the workweek:
"In Monday's trading session alone, futures for the main precious metal rose by almost 3.0% compared to Friday, peaking at $3,436.50 and up almost $90 since the opening of trading."
In his opinion, writing that this is another historical record would be too banal and commonplace, because recently they have been updated almost every week. He reminds that the $3,000 mark was broken on March 16, $3,100 on March 27, $3,200 on April 10, and $3,300 on April 15.
In general, since the beginning of 2025, the cost of gold has increased by almost 30% (approximately $800), and compared to the end of October 2022, by 2.1 times.
"Against this background, one can already recall with humor the forecast made less than 5 months ago, in mid-December 2024, by American banking analysts that the dollar could reach $3,000 per ounce in the second half of 2025, but investors will need to be patient," he notes on the occasion.
The politician draws attention to the fact that while last year experts named a whole range of factors that contributed to the rise in gold prices, recently the most influential is considered to be "the specter of a global trade war initiated by the US after the arrival of the current administration, while the rest have already stepped down from leading roles."
Moreover, according to him, markets are now showing a nervous reaction even to gossip, half-joking posts and comments on social networks:
"It was enough for information to spread that US President D. Trump plans to seek the dismissal of the current Fed Chairman J. Powell (which is quite difficult if he himself does not decide to leave office), or at least limit the policy and independence of the regulator (in other areas this has already been demonstrated through the introduction of "states of emergency", which give the head of state the opportunity to regulate a wider range of issues by executive decrees), for the dollar to immediately accelerate its weakening."
Hetmantsev also adds how the euro surpassed the $1.15 mark per unit of the European currency, the Swiss franc set a ten-year high, and the Japanese yen and pound sterling set a seven-month high.
Therefore, if the chain of extravagant decisions continues, the further weakening of the dollar and the rise in gold prices, the Ukrainian politician suggests, will become a trend that will be observed at least in the coming months.
Previously, "Apostrophe" found out whether Ukrainians should get rid of American currency , and what they should invest in to protect their savings from depreciation.