Gold Closes Above $3,000 For the First Time Ever

 

Gold Crosses $3,000; Recession Fears In Focus

(Bullion News Network) – Gold will end this trading day above $3,000 per troy ounce for the first time ever. The precious metal added nearly $20 to last week’s gains this afternoon, crossing the $3,000 line and continuing its stellar 2025 performance. Silver also gained to begin the week, adding $0.13 to its spot price and coming within a few cents of the $34/ozt level. Both precious metals are fresh off of a record performance last Thursday, when mounting uncertainty on Wall Street and trade war fears drove gold and silver prices sharply higher before pulling back slightly on Friday to end the week. 

Uncertainty remains a big safe haven demand driver as investors fret over the possibility of a recession. President Trump’s aggressive tariff policies are highly controversial among economists, and the latest consumer sentiment report shows that Americans are worried that prices will continue to rise. Wall Street continued its recovery today, with the Dow, Nasdaq, and the S&P 500 logging their second consecutive day in the green. The stock market appears to be bouncing back from its worst week since 2023, but investor sentiment is still far from optimistic. 

CNN’s Fear and Greed Index reached a one-year low last Monday, indicating a market being motivated by “extreme fear.” Since then, the index has recovered slightly, although it remains on the high end of “extreme fear.” Safe haven demand remains near a one-year high, according to the metric, and today’s stock bump did little to move the needle on the ratio of bond to stock returns over the past twenty days. Market volatility has dropped significantly since last Monday’s peak, suggesting that investors have become at least marginally more confident that the U.S. will avert a recession. 

Onto the week’s economic data reports, U.S. retail sales came in lower than expected, registering at .2% compared to a median forecast of .6%. This didn’t stop American markets from continuing to rebound from last week’s rout. Traders are bracing for a busy week of financial data. This slate of reports includes housing starts data, building permits, the import price index, industrial production, and capacity utilization, all scheduled for release Tuesday morning. On Thursday, markets will review the initial jobless claims report, projected to climb from 220,000 in February to 225,000 in March, as well as the existing home sales and U.S. leading economic indicators reports. 

The key event of the week will be Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, which will be followed by remarks and a press conference from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The Fed will deliver its interest rate decision at 2 PM ET, and Fed Chair Powell will speak to reporters at 2:30 PM. Markets largely anticipate that the Fed will remain cautious and choose to keep the federal interest rate unchanged at 4.25-4.50%. CME FedWatch projects a 99% probability that the Fed will vote to keep rates the same, down from 2% one day ago and 4% last Monday. The tone of Mr. Powell’s speech should have a notable impact on markets. What remains to be seen is how the most recent PCE report, which showed a slowdown in inflation, will play into the Fed’s reasoning moving into Q3 of 2025. 

Gold prices hit a historic high above $3,000 per troy ounce today on a backdrop of excessive safe haven demand and recessionary fears on Wall Street. This week, a range of economic data reports should tell traders more information about where the precious metals market may be heading.