March 10 (Reuters) – Gold prices edged higher on Monday, helped by a weaker dollar and safe-haven flows triggered by fears of a global trade war, while investors awaited further clues to gauge the Federal Reserve’s interest rate stance.
* Spot gold was up 0.1% at $2,914.42 an ounce, as of 0052 GMT, while U.S. gold futures rose 0.3% to $2,921.90.
* U.S. President Donald Trump declined to predict whether the U.S. could face a recession amid stock market concerns about his tariff actions on Mexico, Canada and China over fentanyl.
* Seesaw tariff announcements have unnerved Wall Street as investors say flip-flopping moves by the Trump administration to roll back levies on trading partners are causing confusion rather than bringing relief.
* Trump imposed new 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada last Tuesday, along with fresh duties on Chinese goods.
* He later exempted many imports from Mexico and some from Canada from those tariffs for a month, creating uncertainty in the markets and fanning worries about U.S. inflation and growth.
* Tariffs have been a key concern for investors, with many believing that they can harm economic growth and be inflationary.
* Worries over Trump’s tariff policies pushed safe-haven gold to a record high of $2,956.15 on February 24.
* Gold is seen as a hedge against political risks and inflation.
* However, if rising price pressures force the Fed to keep interest rates higher, gold may lose its allure as it is a non-yielding asset.
* The Labor Department’s employment report on Friday showed that nonfarm payrolls increased by 151,000 last month after rising by a downwardly revised 125,000 in January.
* Investors now await U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) data on Wednesday and Producer Price Index (PPI) data on Thursday.
* Spot silver firmed 0.1% to $32.56 an ounce, platinum was steady at $962.90, and palladium eased 0.2% to $946.30. DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0700 Germany Industrial Output MM, Industrial Production YY SA MM Jan
(Reporting by Anjana Anil in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
