The escalation of tariff tensions has caused gold prices to soar to historic highs, approaching the $3,000 mark

On Thursday, during intraday trading, gold prices continued to rise, reaching a new historical high due to U.S. President Trump's latest threat to impose tariffs on European imports, which intensified market risk aversion.

Spot gold rose nearly 1.8% to over $2,985. Futures gold also surged nearly 1.8%, approaching the $3,000 mark.

The soaring gold prices also drove a broad increase in gold and silver mining stocks, with First Majestic up 8.79%, Hecla Mining up 3.59%, Barrick Gold up 2.13%, and Harmony Gold up 2.35%.

Just a few weeks ago, Goldman Sachs significantly raised its gold price forecast for the end of 2025, expecting gold prices to reach $3,100 per ounce, up from the previous forecast of $2,890 per ounce. At the same time, Goldman Sachs' precious metals research team reiterated its investment recommendation to "go long on gold," pointing out that the long-term buying demand from central banks is the core factor driving gold prices higher.

More notably, Goldman Sachs predicts that if concerns about the sustainability of U.S. fiscal policy intensify, gold prices could rise another 5% to $3,250 per ounce by the end of this year.

In recent years, the U.S. debt issue has raised market concerns, leading some countries' central banks to reduce their holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds and shift funds into gold to enhance the safety of their foreign exchange reserves. Analysts believe that countries holding large amounts of U.S. debt are accelerating their accumulation of gold to hedge against risks.

This trend has not only attracted long-term buying from global central banks but has also led to increased speculative and ETF funds flowing into the gold market, further pushing gold prices upward.

Meanwhile, demand for physical gold remains strong. Data shows that the import volume of precious metals is experiencing explosive growth. Although gold leasing rates have normalized, COMEX (New York Mercantile Exchange) gold inventories continue to rise, reaching historical highs.

In the past three months, physical gold has been arriving at COMEX warehouses daily, bringing total inventories to a record 40.15 million ounces (approximately 1,250 metric tons).

The strong performance of gold has also led the market to re-examine the debate of "Gold vs. Bitcoin, which is the true safe-haven king?" Data shows that gold's recent gains have nearly erased Bitcoin's excess returns since the U.S. election.

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