{"id":3883,"date":"2025-10-11T12:16:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T12:16:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/11\/gold-has-never-been-more-valuable-but-buyers-beware\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T12:16:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T12:16:56","slug":"gold-has-never-been-more-valuable-but-buyers-beware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/11\/gold-has-never-been-more-valuable-but-buyers-beware\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold has never been more valuable \u2014 but buyers beware"},"content":{"rendered":"

The price of gold this week smashed through the $4,000-an-ounce barrier for the first time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The precious metal has been steadily rising this year as investors look to \u201csafe haven\u201d investments to hedge against trade uncertainty and fears of a slowing economy. <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Also contributing to anxieties are the weakening U.S. labor market<\/a>, rising inflation and now a government shutdown<\/a> that has entered its second week. Governments around the world are also facing increasing budget pressures. And President Donald Trump\u2019s attacks on the Federal Reserve have shaken confidence in the safety of U.S. Treasury bonds for some investors.<\/p>\n

\u201c$4,000 is a historic breakthrough for gold,\u201d analysts at ING wrote on Thursday. \u201cGold has long reflected global economic and political stress, with its price typically rising during periods of heightened uncertainty.\u201d <\/p>\n

They noted that during the 2007-08 global financial crisis, gold surged past $1,000, while during the pandemic it climbed to $2,000. Earlier this year, as Trump rolled out his aggressive global tariff plan, it surpassed $3,000. <\/p>\n

It has kept going. Since this time last year, gold is up nearly 50%, even as stocks, which carry more risk, have hit records<\/a>. Individual investors have been a big reason why.<\/p>\n

\"Two
A gold bar purchased at a Costco in Bayonne, N.J., in October 2024.<\/span>Clark Hodgin \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the most popular gold investments, an exchange-traded fund that trades under the ticker symbol \u201cGLD,\u201d has seen more than $35 billion of investor funds flow into it this year, an all-time record, according to State Street, which runs the fund. The previous record was $29 billion, in 2020.<\/p>\n

Gold ETFs are popular among individual investors because buyers can invest at a price lower than what one bar of gold goes for. Each share of the GLD ETF represents a fractional interest in a trust that holds physical gold in high-security vaults run by JPMorgan and HSBC in London and New York.<\/p>\n

Gold fever isn\u2019t just limited to exchanges. Costco executives said in their Sept. 25 earnings conference call that sales of gold bars helped fuel its e-commerce sales. The bulk retailer said gold sales rose by double digits in the three months that ended Aug. 31.<\/p>\n

The sagging value of the U.S. dollar is also fueling gold\u2019s record run.<\/p>\n

As trade and political uncertainty lingers, the dollar index, which measures the dollar against foreign currencies such as the pound sterling, the euro and the yen, has declined about 9% this year. <\/p>\n

A falling dollar can make gold less expensive for buyers in other currencies, which continues to push up the price.<\/p>\n

But investor beware: Gold is an \u201cunproductive\u201d investment, as many market gurus have said. <\/p>\n

Warren Buffett, the legendary CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, cautioned investors in a 2011 letter<\/a> that gold has \u201ctwo significant shortcomings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrue, gold has some industrial and decorative utility, but the demand for these purposes is both limited and incapable of soaking up new production. Meanwhile, if you own one ounce of gold for an eternity, you will still own one ounce at its end,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Unlike interest generated by savings accounts, certificates of deposit, stock dividends or other investment vehicles, gold produces no income until it is sold.<\/p>\n

However, Buffett said, \u201cwhen people a century from now are fearful, it\u2019s likely many will still rush to gold.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The price of gold this week smashed through the $4,000-an-ounce barrier for the first time. The precious metal has been steadily rising this year as investors look to \u201csafe haven\u201d investments to hedge against trade uncertainty and fears of a slowing economy. Also contributing to anxieties are the weakening U.S. labor market, rising inflation and <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3884,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marketsfortress.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}