Gold was on track for the biggest weekly loss in three years as optimism revolving around U.S. and China trade matters sent markets soaring throughout the week. 

Since Monday leading into Friday’s low, gold prices tumbled by as much as 3.8%, the most since November 2016. 

Beijing and Washington announced that the two were possibly headed towards an interim deal, which would halt the ongoing trade wars. Additionally, signs of stabilization in the global economy also rattled gold prices.

However, U.S. markets slightly retreated on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump contradicted reports that the U.S. and China would roll back tariffs. 

Trump said on Friday that he did not agree to roll back the tariffs, although Beijing would like so. Chinese officials have noted that Beijing would like Trump to roll back the tariffs as part of the “phase one” trade negotiations.

“Let’s not forget that in the past we have come so close to a trade agreement and at the last minute there has been a pullback,” said Michael Geraghty, Capital Market Strategist at Cornerstone Capital Group.

 

“The president is very set in his way and the Chinese have their viewpoint too, so it seems it’s going to take a bit longer for the trade deal to be nailed down.”

Initially, in the morning gold prices rose higher, but pulled back quickly once market indexes rebounded. Gold prices were 0.25% lower shortly before the market close. 

Earlier in the morning, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down as much as 100 points, but shortly before the closing bell, the Dow was down 29.09 points or 0.11%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 was trading 2.3 points or 0.07% higher, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 26.82 points or 0.32%.