Investors are frantically looking for safe havens as the prospects of a Donald Trump presidency looks more likely
The price of gold surged nearly 4% to $1,316 an ounce on Tuesday night. That was the biggest jump for the yellow metal, which is often seen as one of the world’s safest assets, since the Brexit vote this past summer.
The price of U.S. Treasury bonds are also rising, sending yields lower, in response to signs that Trump could win the presidential elections.
Gold is soaring as investors are overnight bailing out of stocks world wide. There’s also been a sell off in the Mexican peso. The market has long seen the Mexican economy as the most vulnerable to a Trump presidency. Mexico’s economy is dependent on the U.S. and Trump has cutting on pulling back economic ties to the neighboring country. A number of economists have also worried that Trump’s economic policies, like imposing tariffs on China and limiting immigration could slow the U.S. economy, and cause prices to surge. Gold is often seen as a hedge against inflation.
Earlier on Tuesday, the huge hedge fund Bridgewater Associates said that the stock market could fall over 10% if Trump wins the presidency.
The desire to avoid losses could be driving investors to gold. The metal had tended to hold its value and even rise in times of uncertainty. The price of gold rose in 2008 and 2009 as the entered the Great Recession. Gold prices started to drop in late 2012 as the economy began to stabilize. Gold prices are now higher than they have been since in more than two years.
