In normal times, the price of gold would not be among the day’s talking points around these parts, but doom scrolling calls for a delicate balance between stocking your mind and losing it entirely.

The rise and fall of precious metal prices in the markets is a niche interest, apart from that time when gold buyers were doing pop-ups in shopping centres. But when the Financial Times leads with the news that gold bullion has “stormed through the milestone of $5,000 per troy ounce”, it seems worth a pause.

Historic gold surges are linked to rising global tensions, volatility and uncertainty. Prices went above $1,000 during the 2008 crash and above $2,000 during the pandemic. In 2025, the first year of King Donald’s second reign, it sped past €3,000 and €4,000. A month into 2026, it’s already at $5,000, with no sign of a slowdown.

In analyst-speak, investors “are price insensitive to gold now, as they expect this momentum to continue”. Translation: they will pay any amount to protect their cash from the raving king’s volatility and they see no end to it.

The big problem for the rest of us is that we are the opposite of price insensitive. What the analysts are really talking about, as always, is the lives and livelihoods of ordinary people. Jobs, pensions, stability, world peace.

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