The gold price rallied to another record high today buoyed by rising geopolitical tensions.
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The spot gold price rose 0.2% to $4,516.64 per ounce in early trading, after touching a record $4,530.60 earlier. U.S. gold futures for February delivery climbed 0.9% to $4,545.10.
Metals March Higher
It wasn’t only gold glittering during the festive season. Spot silver jumped 0.66% to a high of $74.68 per ounce.
Spot platinum rose 5.8% to $2,349.65 per ounce in early trading, after touching an all-time high of $2,448.25 earlier, while palladium climbed 7% to $1,801.25, following a three-year high in the previous session. Indeed, all precious metals were headed for weekly gains.
The rush for metals of all kinds was driven by increased geopolitical fears as the Russia/Ukraine conflict showed few signs of easing and tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela continued to boil. Another driver is the growing expectation of more U.S. interest rate cuts in the New Year and continued investor fears over a potential AI bubble.
Gold and other metals tend to do well during times of lower interest rates.
“Momentum-driven and speculative players have been powering the rally in gold and silver since early December, with thin year-end liquidity, expectations of prolonged U.S. rate cuts, a weaker dollar and a flare-up in geopolitical risks combining to push precious metals to fresh record highs,” said Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst at OANDA. “Looking ahead into the first half of 2026, gold could move towards the $5,000 level, while silver has the potential to reach around $90.”
A Golden 2026
The gold price has jumped 70% so far this year, see below, breaking multiple records and surpassing the $3,000 and $4,000 per-ounce thresholds for the first time. It is on track for its biggest annual gain since 1979.
It has also boosted gold-related ETFs such as the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD), which has also surged over 70% this year.
Some major banks have forecasted that the gold price will continue to rally in 2026. Investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS) expects gold prices to rise 14% to $4,900 per ounce by December 2026 under its base case. The bank added that there were upside risks to this forecast, citing the potential for broader diversification demand from private investors.
Bank of America (BAC) expects gold to trade at an average price of $4,538 per troy ounce in 2026 and sees a path to $5,000. The World Gold Council also sees the metal hitting that milestone driven by “elevated geopolitical stress and a pronounced flight-to-safety.”
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