{"id":9138,"date":"2026-08-20T09:55:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T07:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/news\/gold-rush-continues-fed-geopolitical-tensions-and-central-banks-fuel-rally\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T09:55:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T07:55:28","slug":"gold-rush-continues-fed-geopolitical-tensions-and-central-banks-fuel-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/news\/gold-rush-continues-fed-geopolitical-tensions-and-central-banks-fuel-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"Gold Rush Continues: Fed, Geopolitical Tensions, and Central Banks Fuel Rally"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Recent <strong>geopolitical tensions<\/strong> and uncertainty surrounding the <strong>Federal Reserve&#8217;s<\/strong> next moves have <strong>alarmed investors<\/strong>, who have returned to seeking <strong>security in the ultimate safe-haven asset<\/strong>. After stabilizing around $4,000 per ounce for several weeks, gold has <strong>surged sharply<\/strong> by about $400 (approximately 10%) since the beginning of August, recording what could be the <strong>best monthly performance of the century<\/strong>. The last time the yellow metal increased by 13% or more was in September 1999.  <\/p>\n<h2>Federal Reserve and Weak US Employment Behind the Surge<\/h2>\n<p>Key factors driving the rise in the safe-haven asset&#8217;s price include a dovish stance from the US central bank (Fed) and weak employment data that came in softer than initially anticipated. Still-moderate inflation data eases concerns over monetary policy tightening, boosting the market for safe-haven assets. <\/p>\n<p>Investor doubts persist regarding the newly elected Federal Reserve Chair, Kevin Warsh, whose statements have called into question the financial institution&#8217;s independence\u2014nor did his comments regarding the 2% inflation target stir enthusiasm.<br \/>\nThe bond market has gone on alert, with benchmark 10-year Treasury yields at their highest levels in 18 months. All of this has greatly benefited gold, which <strong>in the first weeks of August rose from 113 euros per gram to approximately 122.50 euros per gram<\/strong>: an increase of over 8.4%. The rapid rise of the metal then led to <strong>profit-taking as a natural consequence<\/strong>: on August 18 came the pullback, with the yellow metal closing at 120.30 euros per gram.  <\/p>\n<p>To track the price of gold in real time, visit our page dedicated to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/quotations\/gold\/\">gold prices in euros per gram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Central Banks Continue Buying<\/h2>\n<p>Central banks took advantage of the dip in gold prices to replenish their official reserves. In the second quarter, net purchases totaled 289 tonnes: five times the 57 tonnes bought in the first quarter and 62% more compared to the same period in 2025. This represents the highest value ever recorded in a second quarter.  <\/p>\n<p>Purchases were dominated by the <strong>National Bank of Poland<\/strong>, which added 51 tonnes to its vaults. At the end of June, Polish gold reserves stood at 632 tonnes, against a declared target of 700. On the second and third steps of the podium were <strong>Uzbekistan<\/strong> (+16 tonnes) and <strong>Kazakhstan<\/strong> (+15 tonnes).  <\/p>\n<p>But that&#8217;s not all. In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gold.org\/goldhub\/research\/central-bank-gold-reserves-survey-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">annual survey conducted by the <strong>World Gold Council<\/strong><\/a> on gold reserves, <strong>89% of the central banks surveyed stated that they expect an increase in global gold reserves<\/strong> over the next twelve months. <\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-9125 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Immagine-2026-08-20-092008.png\" alt=\"gold purchases chart\" width=\"964\" height=\"567\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Immagine-2026-08-20-092008.png 964w, https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Immagine-2026-08-20-092008-300x176.png 300w, https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Immagine-2026-08-20-092008-768x452.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 964px) 100vw, 964px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In East Asia, the <strong>People\u2019s Bank of China<\/strong> reached its twenty-first consecutive month of gold purchases. In July, it added <strong>20 tonnes of the yellow metal to its reserves<\/strong>, the most in a single month since October 2023. Imports are also rising: 764 tonnes in the first quarter, up 138% compared to 2025.  <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-9128 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/monthly-gold-purchase-announcement-vs-LBMA-Gold-Price-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"983\" height=\"489\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/monthly-gold-purchase-announcement-vs-LBMA-Gold-Price-PM.png 983w, https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/monthly-gold-purchase-announcement-vs-LBMA-Gold-Price-PM-300x149.png 300w, https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/monthly-gold-purchase-announcement-vs-LBMA-Gold-Price-PM-768x382.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 983px) 100vw, 983px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If you want to learn more about the basics of how physical custody and the taxation of these assets work, read our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/gold-guide\/\">guide to investment gold<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Sources<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/commentary\/reuters-open-interest\/central-banks-spearhead-renewed-gold-rush-2026-08-13\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters, Central banks spearhead renewed gold rush<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gold.org\/goldhub\/gold-focus\/2026\/08\/china-gold-market-update-strong-official-sector-buying-july\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gold.org, China gold market update: Strong official sector buying in July<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recent geopolitical tensions and uncertainty surrounding the Federal Reserve&#8217;s next moves have alarmed investors, who have returned to seeking security in the ultimate safe-haven asset. After stabilizing around $4,000 per ounce for several weeks, gold has surged sharply by about $400 (approximately 10%) since the beginning of August, recording what could be the best monthly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":9133,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gold-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.italpreziosi.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}