The second round of direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, originally scheduled to resume on June 3, was actually held secretly in Istanbul, Turkey on June 2, but broke down after only one hour. The two sides reached limited consensus on humanitarian issues such as prisoner exchange and transfer of remains, but fell into fundamental opposition on core issues such as territorial sovereignty and ceasefire conditions.

On May 29, local time, after the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily restored the tariff policy, the Trump administration urgently launched "Plan B" - a plan to impose a 15% unified tariff on global imported goods within 150 days, covering core categories such as automobiles, electronics, and machinery. This policy bypasses congressional authorization on the grounds of "national security" by invoking Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and directly imposes a comprehensive tax increase on imported goods.

On May 28, local time, the U.S. International Trade Court made a historic ruling, finding that the "Liberation Day" tariff policy announced by the Trump administration on April 2 was overstepping its authority, and ruled that the president had no right to impose comprehensive tariffs on trading partners. This ruling not only directly impacted the foundation of U.S. trade policy, but also triggered a chain reaction among global trading partners. Major economies such as the European Union and Mexico have already launched retaliatory tariff plans. Affected by this, the spot gold price opened lower in the early Asian session on May 29, plummeting by $30 to $3,261.27 per ounce, a new low since May 22, and the U.S. dollar index soared to 99.98, causing violent shocks in global financial markets.

In recent years, the traditional 60/40 investment portfolio that focuses on stocks and bonds has gradually become ineffective under the impact of tariff policies and economic uncertainty. Goldman Sachs pointed out that long-term U.S. Treasury bonds have failed to play a role in hedging the downside risks of the stock market recently. Whether it is the recession concerns caused by the tariff escalation in April or the surge in borrowing costs caused by fiscal sustainability concerns in May, U.S. Treasury bonds have not reflected their safe-haven value.

On May 27, US President Trump claimed on social media that his threat to impose a 50% tariff on the EU "worked", saying that the EU had taken the initiative to request to speed up the trade negotiations. This statement came from the fact that after Trump suddenly escalated his tariff threat last week, European Commission President von der Leyen urgently called for negotiations, which eventually prompted Trump to postpone the implementation of tariffs from June 1 to July 9. However, market concerns about trade frictions have not completely dissipated, and gold prices have fluctuated under the interweaving of long and short factors.

Recently, there was a dramatic turn in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations - Hamas announced through an intermediary that it accepted the ceasefire plan proposed by US envoy Witkoff, which was then quickly denied by both the US and Israel, triggering market concerns about the escalation of the situation in the Middle East.

On May 25, Dashkin, commander of the Kursk Air Defense Division of Russia, disclosed for the first time: When Putin inspected the front line on May 20, the Ukrainian army dispatched 46 drones to "precisely besiege" the presidential helicopter route, and the Russian army shot down all targets within a radius of 20 kilometers. The Russian side accused the attack of "intelligence accurate to the minute" and suspected internal leaks, while the Ukrainian side denied planning the assassination, saying that "drones only target military targets."

In the early morning of May 23, Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi used harsh words in a letter to UN Secretary-General Guterres: "If Israel dares to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, the United States will be regarded as a 'co-aggressor' and Iran will take 'special measures' to protect its nuclear assets." This statement forms a double deterrent with the "devastating counterattack" statement issued by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on the same day.

On the evening of May 21st local time, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu held his first press conference since December 2024, declaring that Israel will have full control over the entire Gaza Strip and that "the war will be fought until it is won." The remarks mark an escalation in the goal of Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, from "eliminating Hamas" to "permanently controlling the territory."

On May 20th local time, US Secretary of State Blinken made a tough statement in a speech at a Washington think tank that if Russia and Ukraine fail to reach substantive progress on a ceasefire agreement within the next two weeks, the United States will join the European Union to impose a new round of sanctions on Russia, focusing on energy, finance and the military-industrial complex.