Australia Exchange foreign exchange platform: Gold prices fell due to profit-taking, focusing on the meeting between US and Russian officials

Monday (February 17) Asian early trading, spot gold rebounded, earlier rose 0.37% to $2893.64/ounce, but soon fell back, currently trading at $2881/ounce near, continue to be weighed down by long profit taking, in addition, Trump said that soon meet with Putin, also weakened risk aversion.Aohui foreign exchange platformAccording to the analysis, gold prices fell more than 1.55% last Friday, weighed down by profit-taking, but the weekly trend still rose for the seventh consecutive week, and investors worried about a global trade war after U.S. President Donald Trump pushed for reciprocal tariffs.

Gold prices last Tuesday (February 11) refreshed the record high to $2942.53/ounce, followed by high volatility, closing at $2882.85/ounce, up 0.74% weekly.

Allegiance Gold chief operating officer Alex Ebkarian said gold remains bullish, driven by factors such as tariffs, underlying inflation and a weaker dollar, which is further fueled by the growing number of people switching from paper gold to physical gold.

Mr. Trump on Thursday directed his economic team to devise plans to impose reciprocal tariffs on all countries that tax US imports, a potentially inflationary move that could further boost demand for gold, a traditional hedge against rising prices and geopolitical uncertainty.

Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales fell by the most in nearly two years in January, suggesting a sharp slowdown in economic growth early in Quarter 1.

But while the Commerce Department's retail sales data on Friday fell more than expected across the board, it may not reflect a material change in consumer spending, which had risen sharply for four straight months.

A sharp upward revision to December sales mitigated some of the impact of the report. Economists also noted that it was difficult to exclude large seasonal swings from year-end data, as was also evident in the January consumer inflation report.

They still do not expect the Fed to resume cutting interest rates until the second half of the year, when some of President Trump's administration's policies, like broad tariffs on imports, have cast a shadow over the economy.

Retail sales fell 0.9 per cent last month, the biggest decline since March 2023, after December's increase was revised upwards to 0.7 per cent, the Commerce Department's statistics bureau said. Economists polled by Reuters had expected retail sales, mainly goods and not adjusted for inflation, to fall 0.1 per cent, after rising 4.2 per cent in January from a year earlier.

In addition, U.S. President Donald Trump's delay in implementing planned trade tariffs has raised hopes that they may not be as severe as feared, while optimism over a possible peace deal between Russia and Ukraine has weighed on safe-haven demand for gold.

According to several Russian media reports on the 16th local time, Russian officials and US officials will hold a meeting on Ukraine in Saudi Arabia on February 18. According to the report, the US representatives are expected to include US Secretary of State Rubio, US National Security Assistant Waltz and US Special Envoy for the Middle East Witkov. There are also reports that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov is preparing to visit Saudi Arabia.

On the 16th local time, US President Trump said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky both want to end the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as soon as possible. Trump said that the time of his meeting with Putin has not been determined, but he expects it to be held soon. At the same time, Trump believes that Zelensky will participate in negotiations on Ukraine. On the issue of Gaza, Trump said that Israel will consult with Trump himself on the next steps.

President Donald Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said on Feb. 16 that there would be no European seat at the Ukrainian peace table after the United States sent a questionnaire to European governments asking what Europe could contribute to Kiev's security.

Trump stunned European allies last week when he spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin and announced the immediate start of peace talks without advance notice to European allies and Kiev.

Trump administration officials have also made it clear in recent days that they want NATO's European allies to assume primary responsibility for the region because the United States now has other priorities.