Gold is on a tear to start 2026
The speed of gold's gains in a month has been nothing short of astounding, even after its remarkable gains through 2025
One kilogram gold bars and a five hundred gram gold bar in April 2025 (Angel Garcia/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The U.S. dollar has new competition in financial markets: Gold. Gold prices are reaching new trading records this week, at times surpassing over $5,500 an ounce.
Major banks believe that gold prices have more room to climb higher. A recent note from Morgan Stanley $MS projected that gold prices will reach $5,700 an ounce by the end of the second quarter.
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Gold prices, though, fell to $5,200 an ounce as of Thursday morning's trading session, a 2% drop from the prior day.
The speed of gold's gains in a month has been nothing short of astounding, even after its remarkable gains through 2025. Since the start of the year, gold prices have risen more than 20% with investors seeking reliable, profitable assets to hedge against geopolitical uncertainty. The Trump administration has inflicted most of that unpredictability.
For part of January, President Donald Trump was relentless in demanding Denmark hand over Greenland to the U.S., causing a rupture in U.S.-European relations that some European leaders warn may be irreversible. It blew up the U.S.-E.U. trade deal and led one Danish pension fund to sell off its holdings in U.S. bonds.
Contrasting gold's highs, the U.S. dollar kept slumping against currency counterparts like the Euro this month. The U.S. dollar has shed 10% of its value since Trump took office, per the U.S. Dollar index. On Wednesday, it closed to its lowest level since 2022.