World

GOLD hovered around $4,000 an ounce as traders weighed a US-China trade truce that failed to quash concerns about long-term competition between the world’s two largest economies.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned against “breaking supply chains” in his first public remarks after a landmark meeting with US President Donald Trump that secured a one-year trade truce between the nations.

Talks between the two leaders appeared to resolve – for now – months of brinkmanship, but a one-year pause is likely only to stabilize relations while buying each side time to reduce strategic dependence. The détente also underscored the rise in China’s economic clout since Trump’s first term as US president, a shift that is fueling interest in haven assets.

Bullion is headed for a second weekly drop and is down more than 8% from a record high above $4,380 on Oct. 20. The retreat has most recently been aided by reduced expectations of further Federal Reserve rate cuts. Chair Jerome Powell warned that investors should rein in hopes for a December reduction after a quarter-point cut on Wednesday.

Outflows from gold-backed exchange-traded funds have also removed some of the support that underpinned the scorching rally. Total gold ETF holdings fell for six days before recording net inflows on Thursday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

A “combination of a hawkish cut, a truce in the US-China trade war, plus heavy outflows from the gold ETFs are all adding to the corrective mood,” said Robert Rennie, a commodities analyst at Westpac Bank Corp. Bullion could drop back to around the $3,750 level, he said. 

Despite its recent pullback, gold has still advanced more than 50% this year, with support from a push by mainstream investors to safeguard their portfolios against risk as well as accelerated central-bank buying, the World Gold Council said in a report on Thursday. Central banks purchased 28% more gold in the third quarter than during the preceding three months, reversing a downward trend seen earlier this year.

Spot gold fell 0.7% to $3,997.79 an ounce as of 4:22 p.m. in New York. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%. Silver, platinum and palladium all fell.  —BLOOMBERG

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US air travel is beginning to show signs of strain as the government shutdown drags on, with traffic controller shortages snarling thousands of flights into the weekend.

Flights into New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport were temporarily halted Friday afternoon due to staffing constraints. The US Federal Aviation Administration also paused flights from Washington-area airports into LaGuardia Airport beginning just after 4:30 p.m. local time.

Traffic was slowed at other airports throughout the day, including Newark Liberty International Airport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Boston Logan International Airport, and in Austin, Houston, Nashville and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. 

That follows disruptions at Newark and JFK on Thursday evening. Airports serving Dallas-Fort Worth and Washington experienced similar hiccups earlier on Thursday.

At one point, the FAA warned travelers on Thursday that there would likely be a stretch of time where no flights would be able to land in Orlando because no controllers were available. The agency later revised that assessment, after saying it had increased staffing.

The air travel problems come as officials, including US Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, cautioned that a prolonged government shutdown could snarl air travel into the busy Thanksgiving travel season.

Flight disruptions have emerged as a flash point in the shutdown debate, with Vance and Duffy joining airline executives in calling on Congress to come together to reopen the government.

The latest data from aviation analytics company Cirium shows that overall on-time departures were slightly better so far Friday compared to Thursday. But New York area airports, including JFK and LaGuardia, as well as Boston Logan International Airport, experienced higher-than-normal cancellations and delays. 

On Thursday, departure performance at many major airports, including the main ones serving the New York area — JFK, LaGuardia and Newark — suffered. At all three, about 60% of flights departed on time, when the target is typically 80% or higher. There was also an increase in cancellations at many airports, according to the data. 

Thursday’s data was the first released since the shutdown began that shows significant signs of a widespread slowdown, though overall performance in October is relatively similar to last month. Bad weather also contributed to flight disruptions Thursday.  

Airlines delayed more than 7,300 US flights Thursday and canceled 1,200 more, according to data from flight-tracking website FlightAware.

Duffy had previously said that staffing issues normally account for about 5% of delays. But with the shutdown about to enter its second month, flight delays due to workforce constraints have fueled a higher percentage of disruptions — at times surpassing 50%. 

More than 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents have been forced to continue working without pay, prompting some to get second jobs. —BLOOMBERG

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MOSCOW — Russia has imposed more extensive entry bans on representatives from European institutions and countries in response to the 19th package of anti-Russian sanctions by the European Union (EU), the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday, reported Xinhua.

In response to the approval of the 19th package of EU sanctions against Russia, Moscow has “significantly expanded” the entry ban list of representatives of European institutions, EU member states, and several other European countries that follow the EU’s anti-Russian policy, the ministry said in a statement on its official website.

The statement said that the measure applies to officials from law enforcement agencies, government and commercial organisations, and citizens of EU member states and other Western countries involved in providing military assistance to Ukraine, supplying dual-use goods, undermining Russia’s territorial integrity, and organising blockades of Russian ships and cargo.

The entry ban also targets representatives of European institutions, government bodies of EU countries, and other European states involved in efforts to establish an international “tribunal” against the Russian leadership, advocating the confiscation of Russian state assets or using their proceeds to benefit Ukraine, and responsible for drafting and enforcing sanctions against Russia.

The ministry said the restrictions also include civil activists and representatives of the scientific community known for their “Russophobic rhetoric,” as well as members of parliaments of EU member states and the European Parliament who voted for anti-Russian resolutions and bills.

Earlier this month, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas announced that the bloc had approved its 19th package of sanctions against Russia, which includes new restrictions on the movement of Russian diplomats within the EU. –BERNAMA-XINHUA

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