Precious metal investors who hold gold assets are having a good day today. The king of precious metals, gold, has broken through an all-time high and is currently trading at over $3,551 per ounce as of the time of this writing.
The milestone highlights a terrific year for gold so far. Here’s what you need to know and why gold just hit an all-time high.
What’s happened?
The price of one ounce of gold hit an all-time high on Tuesday. One ounce of the precious metal passed $3,551 this morning, a new record.
Gold’s rise post Labor Day is just the latest bit of good news for investors in the precious metal this year. Since the beginning of 2025, gold’s value has increased by more than 36%. Over the past year, gold has surged more than 42%.
Gold’s previous milestone was only six months ago in March, when the metal surpassed the $3,000 mark for the first time. It has since surged more than $500 per ounce, hitting today’s price of more than $3,550.
Why is gold surging?
There are several factors likely influencing the record-busting price of gold as of late.
The first is that gold is often regarded as a safe-haven asset during times of economic uncertainty. There’s a good chance that when stock markets are falling, gold is rising. That’s because investors seek safe-haven assets that are less volatile than stocks.
2025 has been marked by uncertainty. Since President Trump took office for the second time in January and unleashed his tariffs upon the world in the Spring, geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty have spread across the globe, worrying investors.
Such uncertainty has prompted some investors to seek safe-haven assets, such as gold.
A potential crisis for the Fed
But gold is likely also rising thanks to more recent Trump-fueled events, too. Specifically, President Trump has recently intensified his attacks on the Federal Reserve, increasing his criticism of the central bank and its monetary policies, particularly regarding interest rates, which the president believes are too high.
In his war with the Fed, Trump has vocalized his desire to see Fed Chair Jerome Powell replaced, and, most recently, has announced the firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook—something Cook is challenging through the courts.
Many economists fear Trump is trying to destroy the Fed’s independence and staff it with loyalists who will do his bidding, which would put the faith that global institutions and governments have in America’s central bank. This fear has already impacted the value of the U.S. dollar, which is also considered a traditional safe-haven asset.
The Fed is widely expected to reduce interest rates by 0.25% on September 17. The rate cut, if it happens, would likely lead to a further decline in the dollar’s value. As Reuters notes, non-yielding gold often performs well in a low-interest-rate environment.
Tariff uncertainty
A final likely reason gold is up in recent days is Trump’s tariffs. Not his imposition of them, but the possibility that most of the tariffs Trump has levied against countries since the spring are illegal and thus unenforceable.
A U.S. appeals court vote of 7-4 on August 29 against the Trump Administration leaves open the possibility that the U.S. government may have to repay most of the tariffs it has collected so far. The ruling casts further uncertainty over the U.S. and global economies—and is a significant factor in why U.S. markets are down on their first trading day after the Labor Day holiday.
As noted by Reuters, the court has allowed the tariffs to remain in place until October 14, and the Trump Administration has already said it will appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, setting up a significant courtroom showdown that could greatly curtail—or reinforce—Trump’s power.
Until then, investors seem to believe that gold may be one of the best bets as a hedge against the ongoing economic uncertainty.
