Gold prices rise from 2-wk low with focus on Russia-Ukraine, Jackson Hole

Investing.com-- Gold prices rose in Asian trade on Monday, recovering from an over two-week low as safe havens remained in vogue amid dialogue over the Russia-Ukraine war.

Uncertainty before the Jackson Hole central bank symposium this week also favored gold and weighed on the dollar, as markets maintained bets that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in September.

Spot gold rose 0.7% to $3,357.73 an ounce, while gold futures for October rose 0.6% to $3.402.92/oz by 01:00 ET (05:00 GMT). The yellow metal had fallen to an over two-week low last week as U.S. President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed a potential peace agreement with Ukraine.

Trump to meet Zelensky, Europe leaders on Monday

Trump is now set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and top European leaders at the White House later on Monday.

Reports suggested that Trump will demand Ukraine cede some territory to Russia to achieve a peace deal– a notion that Kyiv has repeatedly rejected.

Trump also said on Sunday evening that Ukraine will have to cede Crimea and drop its bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to reach a deal with Russia.

Markets remained uncertain over just what Monday’s meeting will yield, keeping safe havens in demand even as broader risk appetite appeared to have improved. Asian stock markets rose on Monday, with China and India clocking outsized gains, especially on hopes that a peace deal will present limited disruptions to their buying of Russian oil.

Trump’s last meeting with Zelensky at the White House, in February, had ended inconclusively after a heated argument between the two leaders.

Other precious metals also saw some bids on Monday. Platinum futures rose slightly to $1,345.45/oz, while silver futures rose 0.5% to $38.180/oz.

Among industrial metals, benchmark copper futures on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.1% to $9,799.75 a ton, while COMEX copper futures fell 0.1% to $4.4895 a pound.

Copper declined late last week after soft industrial production and fixed asset investment data from China raised some questions about demand in the world’s biggest copper importer.

Jackson Hole awaited for more Fed, rate cues

Metal markets benefited from some weakness in the dollar, amid persistent bets that the Fed will cut interest rates in September.

Focus this week is squarely on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s address at the Jackson Hole symposium, which is expected to provide more cues on the central bank’s plans for rates.

Markets are pricing an over 83% chance the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points in September, CME Fedwatch showed on Monday. But this was lower than the nearly 100% chance seen last week.

Markets tempered their bets on a September rate cut after hotter-than-expected producer inflation raised some concerns over the inflationary impact of Trump’s tariffs.

But this notion offered little support to the greenback, which remained rangebound on Monday after losing ground last week.