en.Wedoany.com Reported - Gold ounce prices on the New York futures market rebounded from their year-to-date lows, temporarily moving away from the key support level of $4,000.

U.S. President Donald Trump has abandoned a plan to impose a 20% transit fee on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The earlier news had driven oil prices up nearly 10%, reigniting inflation concerns and increasing the likelihood of U.S. interest rates remaining higher for longer. However, Trump changed his stance in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, replacing the plan with trade and investment agreements with Gulf monarchies.

Currently, due to expectations of high interest rates strengthening the U.S. dollar, precious metals have lost their safe-haven investment status. Since the outbreak of the Middle East war in late February, gold prices have fallen by 23% due to expectations of U.S. tightening policies.

On the Commodity Exchange (Comex), the most active gold futures contract rose 1.3% to settle at $4,070.70 per ounce. During intraday trading on June 24, gold prices fell to $3,988.00, a new low since November 6, 2025.

The precious metal ounce has just experienced its first quarterly decline since 2024, and its largest quarterly drop since the second quarter of 2013, falling 14% between April and June. Affected by the recent decline, gold has fallen 7.2% year-to-date. Before the war broke out, cumulative gains in the first two months of the year reached as high as 20%. Since the outbreak of the Middle East war in late February, gold ounces have fallen 23% (from a starting point of $5,230). Despite the pullback, gold ounces are still up 21% over the past 12 months.

Bank of America has lowered its 2026 average gold price forecast by 14% to $4,360, citing the Federal Reserve's tightening stance, but expects gold prices to reach $5,000 after the monetary tightening ends.