The price of gold has topped $3,500 an ounce for the first time as investors seek safe havens amid the ongoing market volatility.
Spot gold hit a record high of $3,509.90 per ounce on April 22, having risen more than 3% over a 24-hour period. Gold has now gained 31% this year and nearly 10% since U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping reciprocal tariffs on more than 100 countries April 2.
Gold has outshone stocks, which have fallen sharply in April on worries about Trump’s tariffs and as the president repeatedly threatens to fire U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. U.S. equity markets sold off on April 21 after Trump referred to Powell as a “major loser”” and demanded that he lower interest rates. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 970 points.
Revising Forecasts
At the same time, the stock market volatility sent the price of gold up to an all-time high. Gold is widely viewed as a safe-haven asset in times of economic uncertainty and market turmoil. Central banks around the world have been adding to their gold reserves in recent months.
At the same time, retail investors have been buying gold bars and gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The rapid rise in gold’s price has led many Wall Street analysts to repeatedly revise their forecasts on the precious metal. Several Wall Street firms had predicted that gold’s price would reach $3,500 by the end of this year. Some are now calling for gold to hit $4,000 an ounce.
Is the GLD ETF a Buy?
Most Wall Street analysts don’t offer ratings or price targets on the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), so we’ll look at the ETFs year-to-date performance instead. As one can see in the chart below, the GLD ETF has risen 30.34% this year.
