Gold hits record high as investors seek safety
Gold soared to a new record high on Monday, topping $5,000 per ounce for the first time ever as investors rushed toward the safe-haven asset amid geopolitical unrest.
The latest uptick continued a blazing-hot stretch for gold. Over the past year, the price has climbed 83%, far outpacing a 14% jump in the S&P 500 during that period. In early trading on Monday, the price of gold stood at $5,077 per ounce.
Silver prices also climbed on Monday, jumping about 8% in the early hours of trading. The price of silver stood at $110 an ounce as of Monday morning.
Heightened geopolitical and economic uncertainty have boosted demand for gold and silver, which typically display a degree of independence from movements in stock prices, some analysts previously told ABC News. Volatility in bond markets and a devaluation of the U.S. dollar, meanwhile, have unsettled alternative assets typically viewed as safe-haven investments.
The labor market has slowed in recent months, while inflation has hovered nearly a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
Meanwhile, geopolitical conflict looms amid negotiations over Greenland, U.S.-backed leadership in Venezuela and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump threatened 100% tariffs against Canada if the country pursues a trade deal with China. In response, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the country has no such plans. Under the terms of a free trade agreement with Mexico and the United States, Canada cannot seek trade agreements with nonmarket economies unless it provides notification ahead of time, Carney said.
Precious metals are widely viewed as a hedge against geopolitical unrest because the millennia-old stores of value are perceived as investments that could outlive calamity.
The flight to gold in moments of market turbulence draws on decades of evidence, according to an analysis co-authored in 2025 by Campbell Harvey, a professor at Duke's Fuqua School of Business who studies commodity prices. The price of gold moved higher during eight of the last 11 major stock market selloffs stretching back to the late 1980s, researchers found.
However, gold and silver prices carry volatility of their own, especially when buyers enter the market at a high point, risking losses instead of providing a security blanket.
