• Spot gold surges 1% to a new record of $3,673.95 per ounce, continuing a historic bull run.
  • Major investment banks, including J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs, have sharply revised their 2025 price forecasts upward.
  • The rally is fueled by a potent mix of economic uncertainty, geopolitical risks, and robust institutional demand.

Gold’s relentless ascent continues as the precious metal breached another psychological barrier, climbing 1% to settle at $3,673.95 per ounce. This latest leg up underscores a deepening flight to safety among investors grappling with a murky economic outlook and simmering international tensions.

The move follows a series of weaker-than-expected economic data points, most notably a soft U.S. jobs report that has intensified fears of a potential economic downturn. This has solidified gold’s role as the premier safe-haven asset, drawing capital from investors seeking to hedge against both recession risk and persistent inflation. According to people familiar with the flows, the buying has been broad-based, encompassing everything from massive exchange-traded funds to direct purchases by wealth management arms of major banks.

Institutional analysts have been scrambling to keep up with the pace of the rally. In recent client notes, firms like UBS and Bank of America have joined J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs in issuing sharply higher price targets for 2025, with most now expecting averages in the $3,500 to $3,700 range. The consensus view is that the fundamental drivers—geopolitical instability, questionable economic growth, and a loss of confidence in traditional assets—show no signs of abating in the near term.

“What we’re seeing is a fundamental repricing of risk,” said one trader at a major bullion bank, who asked not to be identified discussing client activity. “The bid is structural now, not just speculative.” Central banks, particularly in emerging markets, have also been significant and consistent buyers, a trend that has provided a solid foundation for prices even during brief periods of profit-taking.

The immediate catalyst for the latest push appears to be a fresh wave of U.S. tariff policies, which have reignited fears of a prolonged global trade war. This has added another layer of uncertainty to an already fragile economic environment, pushing more capital into non-yielding assets perceived as stores of value. Without a clear resolution to these geopolitical and economic headwinds, traders suggest the path of least resistance for gold remains higher, with many eyeing the next major resistance level around the $3,700 mark.

Requests for comment from several major gold ETFs regarding inflows were not immediately returned.