Gold futures climbed above $3,000 an ounce for the first time as anxiety about escalating trade wars and U.S. economic growth pushed investors into traditional safe havens. 

Gold rose as high as $3,016/oz in early trading Friday, briefly putting the metal up nearly 4% since the start of the week. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 before Friday was on track to have its worst week in two years. Gold pared its gains and stocks rebounded during Friday's session.

Gold has advanced this week for the same reason that stocks have slumped. While recent 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:inflation and 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:employment data suggest the economy remains on solid footing, investors are 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:increasingly nervous that Presi🦩dent Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies will increase costs for businesses and consumers and slow economic growth. 

Fear that the U.S. is headed toward a period of 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:stagflation—the unlikely pairing of elevated inflation and sluggish growth—has sent investors into safe-haven assets like gold and U.S. Treasurys. Gold is viewed on Wall Street as 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:a reliable store of value, and thus a hedge against inflation and declining asset prices. Heightened uncertainty can contribute to rising go🔥ld prices, as it did in the lead-up to November's presidential election

Also at play are Treasury yields, which have 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:declined markedly in the las👍t two months, also a byproduct of investors’ flight to safety. Treasury yields are inversely related to Treasury prices, meaning yields fall as demand for U.S. debt—the market’s closest thing to a risk-free asset—increases. Gold has no yield; investors only 🍨profit on gold if its price increases. For that reason, the appeal of Treasurys relative to gold decreases as yields fall, which can help to fuel gold’s rise.