Saturday, April 18, 2026 - Gold prices are fluctuating due to economic uncertainty and potential interest rate changes. Investors are closely watching the Federal Reserve's upcoming decisions, which could impact gold's appeal as a safe haven. Additionally, geopolitical tensions and currency movements are influencing market sentiment towards gold, as traders assess risks and opportunities in the context of global financial instability.
The gold price is set in the global gold market in US Dollars per troy ounce (e.g., $2,000 per ounce). One troy ounce equals 31.10348 grams.
For thousands of years, gold has played a pivotal role in human history. Most archaeological evidence suggests that people who encountered gold were captivated by the metal. It is not known exactly when it was first discovered, but gold has been found in Paleolithic caves dating back as far as 40,000 BC. The first gold coins were minted by King Croesus of Lydia around 550 BC and circulated as currency in many countries before the introduction of paper money.
From the ancient Egyptians to the present day, no metal has played as significant a role in the international monetary system as gold. It has been used throughout history as money and as a standard for the exchange rate of many countries' currencies.
The outbreak of the two World Wars and the chaos of the interwar period struck a blow to the gold standard and global financial markets. The political and economic dominance of the United States, which required the dollar to be at the center of the system, combined with a desire for stability through fixed exchange rates deemed essential for trade, but also for greater flexibility than the traditional gold standard provided, led to its replacement. At the end of World War II the Bretton Woods monetary system was created — a system of fixed exchange rates. It was designed at the Bretton Woods conference in the United States in 1944. The Bretton Woods system established a gold exchange standard in which the price of gold was fixed in US dollars. The US dollar was chosen for the Bretton Woods system because after World War II the United States was the strongest economy in the world. It fixed the dollar to gold at the prevailing rate of $35 per ounce, while all other currencies had fixed — but adjustable — exchange rates against the dollar. This was a radical experiment that made the United States even more powerful in global markets.
In the early 1970s, the Vietnam War, which was devastating for the US budget, brought about the collapse of the gold exchange standard. President Nixon's sudden decision in 1971 to end the Bretton Woods system went down in history as the "Nixon Shock." From 1971 to 1976 there were several attempts to save the gold standard. However, the price of gold continued to climb, reaching a record of $800 in 1980.
Since 2014, no currency in the world has been backed by gold. But that does not mean countries have sold off their gold. Most maintain large gold reserves to defend their currency in times of emergency. Gold is still considered a smart investment, particularly since 1971 and the end of Bretton Woods. Like any investment, gold has been through many ups and downs in recent decades. 1999 was a milestone year in which the gold price had fallen to $251.70. In 2003, with the US invasion of Iraq, many saw gold as a safe haven and its price continued to rise through geopolitical tensions and the 2008 global financial crisis, reaching over $1,900 per ounce in 2011. In more recent years it has traded at successive record highs above $2,000 per ounce amid inflation concerns, geopolitical conflict, and strong central-bank buying.
Sources:"Gold as an investment," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_as_an_investment
"History of gold," https://www.gold.org/about-gold/history-gold