Trump’s Project Freedom Sends Gold Price to $4,644 Open

Gold price opened at $4,644 per troy ounce on Monday, down 1.4% from last Monday’s opening price, after President Donald Trump announced “Project Freedom” over the weekend. By 6:54 a.m. ET, gold had slipped to $4,569.80 as traders priced in the new shipping announcement and a week packed with economic data.

Project Freedom and Hormuz

President Trump said “Project Freedom” is meant to guide ships from countries not at all involved in the U.S.-Iran conflict safely out of the Strait of Hormuz. The move sent precious metals into a wait-and-see trade early Monday, with gold giving back part of its open before the U.S. session had fully settled in.

Silver July futures opened at $76.45 per ounce, 1.6% higher than last Monday’s opening price, then moved to $73.83 by 6:54 a.m. ET. That gap between the open and the morning reading shows how quickly the market was reassessing the announcement once the session got underway.

Brent above $112

Brent crude was still over $112 a barrel on Monday morning, up 3.5% in the last five days, keeping another layer of pressure on the metals trade. Higher interest rates also put downward pressure on precious metal prices, so gold and silver entered the week with two familiar crosscurrents: shipping risk and rate pressure.

The April jobs numbers were due on Friday, and that kept the focus on how much room there is for rates to stay elevated. Gold’s one-year gain reached 95.6% on Jan. 29, a reminder that even after a softer open on Monday, the metal is trading against an unusually large prior move.

Friday jobs data

Friday’s jobs release is the next hard number that can shift that balance. If it comes in strong, the rate-pressure side of the trade gets heavier; if it misses, the market can lean back toward the shipping and conflict risks now tied to “Project Freedom.”