Gold Prices Rise After Brussels Attacks

Gold prices initially rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday morning in the wake of deadly attacks on Brussels. Three explosions, two at the city’s airport and one at Maelbeek subway station in central Brussels, have killed over 30 people. Many more have been injured.
As The New York Times notes, the attacks came four days after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, a man believed to be the sole survivor of those involved in last year’s attacks on Paris. The attacks have put Europe on high alert; France is adding 1,600 additional police officers to patrol its borders.
The news has driven safe-haven buying for gold. Prices for the yellow metal fell late last week, but spiked back up to $1,253.20 per ounce early Tuesday. As of 10:13 a.m. EST, gold prices were up 0.69 percent.
Silver prices were also up 0.39 percent to $15.93.
Rabobank Eurozone economist Emile Cardon told Reuters that investors didn’t rush into safe-haven assets as quickly as expected. “It is all to do with the events in Brussels … but the reaction is muted, which also shows that after all the terrorist attacks we have seen, markets have learned to live with these kind of things,” he told the news outlet.
However, other analysts have noted that the attacks have overshadowed other factors as a driver for investor action.
“Before the explosions we had some fairly hawkish comments from one of the Fed officials saying a rate increase could now be on the agenda for April,” Societe Generale (EPA:GLE) analyst Robin Bhar told Reuters in a separate article. “I’d have thought that would have weakened gold, but clearly safe-haven buying on the back of the explosions in Brussels has (pushed prices higher).”