Gold Rebounds from One-Week Low as Iran Cites Progress in Peace Talks

Ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom during production at Krastsvetmet precious metals plant in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, June 16, 2026. (Reuters)
Ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom during production at Krastsvetmet precious metals plant in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, June 16, 2026. (Reuters)
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Gold Rebounds from One-Week Low as Iran Cites Progress in Peace Talks

Ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom during production at Krastsvetmet precious metals plant in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, June 16, 2026. (Reuters)
Ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold in a workroom during production at Krastsvetmet precious metals plant in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, June 16, 2026. (Reuters)

Gold rebounded from a more than one-week low on Monday, as oil prices fell after Iran cited progress in US-Iran peace talks, though bets of higher interest rates after hawkish US Federal Reserve signals weighed on the metal's outlook.

Spot gold was up 0.8% at $4,194.99 per ounce, as of 0608 GMT, after falling to its ‌lowest level ‌since June 11 on Friday. US gold futures ‌for ⁠August delivery fell ⁠0.8% to $4,213.10.

The first round of talks between high-ranking US and Iranian officials in Switzerland ended Monday, with an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson saying good progress has been made, according to Iran's Press TV.

A joint statement from mediating nations Qatar and Pakistan said the US and Iran agreed to a roadmap toward a final deal within ⁠60 days.

"The current situation in Switzerland is quite ‌different from a few hours ago ‌when the two sides were squabbling, but now it seems they're making ‌some progress," said Edward Meir, an analyst at Marex.

"We're going ‌to be trading on geopolitical guidelines for a little while longer, but the situation is fluid so perhaps best to watch the action from the sidelines for now."

Brent crude futures fell more than 1% after ‌the announcement. Elevated oil prices stoke inflation concerns and raise expectations of higher interest rates. Gold tends ⁠to lose appeal ⁠when rates are high, as it does not yield interest.

Meanwhile, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's emphasis on inflation in last week's press conference, without any more-nuanced commentary about what might clear the bar for a rate hike, led investors to conclude an increase was coming soon.

Nine of the Fed's 19 policymakers believe they will need to raise the policy rate this year.

Traders see an 89% chance of a rate hike in December, from 61% before the Fed's meeting, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Spot silver rose 2.4% to $66.48 per ounce, platinum gained 0.7% to $1,675.91, and palladium was up 1.8% at $1,280.45.



AliExpress Hit with $629 Million EU Fine Over Sales of Illegal, Counterfeit Products

The logo of AliExpress is pictured at AliExpress store, in Granada, Spain, July 22, 2024. (Reuters)
The logo of AliExpress is pictured at AliExpress store, in Granada, Spain, July 22, 2024. (Reuters)
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AliExpress Hit with $629 Million EU Fine Over Sales of Illegal, Counterfeit Products

The logo of AliExpress is pictured at AliExpress store, in Granada, Spain, July 22, 2024. (Reuters)
The logo of AliExpress is pictured at AliExpress store, in Granada, Spain, July 22, 2024. (Reuters)

Alibaba's AliExpress was hit with a record €550 million ($629 million) fine from the European Union on Monday for failing to tackle sales of illegal, unsafe and counterfeit products on its platform.

The fine was the third issued by the European Commission under the EU's landmark Digital Services Act, which requires very large online platforms to do more to counter illegal and harmful content.

The Commission charged AliExpress in June last year with failing to comply with a key DSA requirement to assess and mitigate the risks of dissemination ‌of illegal products.

It ‌set an October 20 deadline for AliExpress to propose remedial ‌measures, ⁠and the company ⁠could face further penalties if the regulator decides in December that they do not comply with the DSA.

"This is very dangerous for consumers, unfair for companies which are complying with all our rules," EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told reporters. She pointed to AliExpress' 193 million users in Europe last year versus Shein's 156 million and Temu's 130 million. Temu has also been fined under the DSA, while Shein is facing an ongoing probe.

"One in five ⁠Europeans say they shop once a month from Shein, Temu and ‌AliExpress," Virkkunen said.

Alibaba did not immediately respond ‌to requests for comment

The Commission said ‌AliExpress had not properly evaluated whether it had enough people to review the ‌risks and had overestimated the effectiveness of its system in detecting and removing illegal products.

The regulator criticized AliExpress' recommender and advertising systems for exacerbating the spread of illegal products and its reliance on one quantitative indicator to measure its moderation system to prevent the risk of illegal products appearing or ‌reappearing in similar forms.

It said AliExpress' failure to detect illegal products meant many illegal products ranging from counterfeit products to unsafe ⁠toys and dangerous ⁠cosmetics remained online for many weeks.

The Commission also took issue with the company's ineffective penalty policy, which resulted in penalized companies continuing to sell illegal products on its platform.

It said AliExpress' mandatory "brand authorization" system – intended to prevent counterfeit sales – was ineffective and understaffed and was easily circumvented by traders selling fake products.

The regulator said the novelty of the Digital Services Act was a mitigating factor in calculating AliExpress' fine, which could have been higher.

The penalty is significantly higher than the €120 million handed out to Elon Musk's social media platform X in December last year and the €200 million meted out to Temu in May this year, both for DSA violations.

AliExpress dodged a fine, which could be as much as 6% of its global annual turnover, in June last year after agreeing to measures to tackle the dissemination of potentially illegal and pornographic materials on its platform.