Gold prices continued to rally, climbing to a record high Thursday, as worries over the global economy kept investors in safe haven assets. Many gold mining stocks made new highs, too.
Comex gold for April delivery rose $98.70, or 3.2%, to $3,155.20 an ounce. Besides making an all-time high, it was the largest gain since April 9, 2020, the time of the Covid crisis.
Gold prices rose 6.9% over the last three sessions — the largest three-day gain since March 2020, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Even on Wednesday, as the stock market soared on a pause in tariffs, gold prices remained firm. Gold for April delivery gained $88.10 per ounce, or 3%, to $3,056.50 that day.
SPDR Gold Shares, an ETF that tracks gold bullion, found support at the 10-week moving average and is up more than 4% for the week. The ETF Thursday added more than 2% in late trading, hitting a new high.
VanEck Gold Miners ETF fell below its 10-week line but climbed back above it. It's up 14% this week.
Mining Stocks, Gold Prices Rise
Mining stocks extended their rally, and many climbed to new highs:
- Harmony Gold Mining jumped more than 11% in heavy volume, to the highest point in 18 years.
- Agnico-Eagle Mines added 6% in active trading to an all-time high.
- South Africa-based Gold Fields rose more than 9% in double its average volume.
- Alamos Gold jumped 6% to a record high.
- AngloGold Ashanti rose to the highest level in 13 years, adding nearly 8% Thursday.
- Royal Gold added 5% to a record high.
While those stocks are extended from buy areas in their charts, two Canadian stocks are near buy points.
Eldorado Gold[ticker symb=EGO] is almost at the 18.20 buy point of a cup-with-handle base. And Osisko Gold Royalties, which is not a miner but owns gold royalties, is in the buy zone from a breakout at a 20.73. It rose to a new high Thursday.
Market Risks Despite Rising Gold Prices
Gold stocks are generally tracing bullish relative strength lines, too. But keep in mind that a weak stock market makes any stock or ETF purchase extra risky. Moreover many gold stocks are already extended from their 10-week lines.
Investors must also keep volatility in mind.
For example, Harmony Gold has a 21-day average true range (ATR) of 5.44%. The average true range is a metric available on IBD's MarketSurge that gauges the characteristic breadth of a stock's behavior.
Stocks that tend to make large jumps or dives in daily action, the kind that can trigger sell rules and shake investors out of a stock, have a high ATR. Stocks that tend to make more incremental moves have lower ATRs. In the current, unpredictable market, IBD suggests stocks with ATRs of 3% or below.
Alamos Gold has an ATR of 4.36%, Agnico-Eagle 3.71%, AngloGold 4.57%, Royal Gold 4.31%, and Newmont 3.97%.
Why Gold Prices Are Rising
Analysts and economists say the rally in gold prices is a typical reaction to investor uncertainty over the global economy. Although President Donald Trump Wednesday set a 90-day pause on tariffs except for a baseline 10%, he raised China tariffs to 145%.
"We'll make some tweaks to our economic forecast, but we still expect a major rise in inflation, slowing economic growth, and a roughly 40% risk of a recession this year," Preston Caldwell, chief U.S. economist at Morningstar, said in note after Wednesday's huge stock rally.
Wells Fargo Investment Institute raised its 2025 year-end target range for gold to $3,000 to $3,200 per ounce from its earlier forecast of $2,800 to $2,900. The bank cited geopolitical uncertainties and stronger demand for perceived safe havens.
In an April 4 note, Wells Fargo said a weaker dollar and other factors helped drive gold prices beyond the bank's expectations. Central banks appear to have increased their gold purchases in reaction to tariff uncertainty.
"Looking ahead, we expect many of the same fundamental drivers that initially sparked the rally in gold to persist in 2025 and drive continued outperformance," Wells Fargo analysts said.
The sell-off in bonds, which drove a jump in Treasury yields, also played a role in the gold rally, Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said Wednesday.
"A potential replacement of U.S. Treasuries by gold — by China and other central banks — could partly explain gold's rally past the $3,000 mark. Gold is well bid this morning amid the fire and dust," Ozkardeskaya said.
The 10-year Treasury yield is up more than 40 basis points this week so far, to 4.378%.
