Analysts say gold has more room to run, even after the precious metal marked its latest gravity-defying milestone Monday. Spot gold eclipsed $5,100 an ounce for the first time on Monday before pulling back. Gold’s latest leg up comes as the U.S. dollar retreated for a third day, with investors hedging against geopolitical uncertainty and foreign central banks diversifying their reserve holdings. “The forces that helped drive gold’s rally remain in place, in our view, including robust demand from investors and central banks, which should allow gold prices to continue rising in 2026,” UBS strategist Giovanni Staunovo wrote in a Monday note to clients. Continued geopolitical uncertainty is continuing to drive prices higher. Trump on Saturday threatened Canada with a 100% tariff if Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a trade deal with China. One day later, Carney said that Canada has “no intention” of making a deal with China. Gold investors are also tracking economic concerns in Japan, with traders speculating whether Tokyo would intervene in the currency market the support the yen. @GC.1 ALL mountain Gold, all-time Recent gains follow last year’s 64% rally in gold, its best year since since 1979. Blistering demand from traders using exchange-traded funds, such as the SPDR Gold Trust , and central banks helped fuel the advance. The latest move higher follows a shocking week, with President Trump threatening tariffs on eight allies as part of his push to annex Greenland before later announcing the framework of a deal with NATO. In reaction, the U.S. dollar slipped , bringing the past year’s decline to almost 10%, while gold — long viewed as a safe-haven amid political disorder — raced higher. As overseas partners reconsider their relationship with the U.S., gold could see even more upside. The metal has lately displaced U.S. Treasurys as a popular trade as foreign central banks look for alternative stores of value. The gap between foreign gold reserves and Treasury holdings narrowed to just $162 billion from about $1.23 trillion in the second quarter of 2025, according to Ned Davis Research. Before Trump announced the framework of the NATO deal for Greenland, European lawmakers last week suspended the approval of a trade deal with the U.S. The European Union was also also reportedly weighing other measures, such as countertariffs as a way to push back against Trump. Staunovo at UBS recommended holding a mid-single digit portfolio allocation to gold. The metal “has proven its value as a strategic diversifier and hedge against inflation and uncertainty,” he said. Morgan Stanley analyst Amy Gower noted that gold has already topped the investment bank’s estimate of $4,750 per ounce, and said she now believes the yellow metal could reach $5,700 an ounce in the second half of 2026 under the bank’s bull case. “We don’t think prices have peaked, with geopolitical risks, positive signals from central banks, and ETF buying,” Gower told clients in a note out Friday.
