United States President Donald Trump sent a barrage of tweets on the morning of April 11 targeting Russia and Syria. “Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria,” Trump said in a tweet this morning. “Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and ‘smart!’”
The spot price of gold was up $13, or 1%, at the bottom of the noon hour. The latest Trump tweets illustrate the threat of wider war that could break out in Syria as the U.S. and its allies could come into direct confrontation with Russia, a nuclear-armed power.
The threats come in the aftermath of an alleged chemical attack in the Syrian city of Douma. The White Helmets, a civil defence organization allied with the Syrian opposition that is largely funded by the United States and its Western allies, alleged that the Assad government was behind the attack. The Assad government has denied that it has used chemical weapons.
The iShares S&P/TSX Global Gold Index Fund (TSX:XGD) was up 2.68% in early afternoon trading on April 11. The threat of conflict is likely to drive investors into the safe-haven, at least in the short term.
At this stage it seems that the U.S. and allies like France and Saudi Arabia could begin a strike on Syrian forces within the week. What is uncertain is the scale of the strike. In any case, Russia-U.S. relations have sunk to a low not seen since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
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