Gold flies past $5,000, silver tops $100
Hugh Jackson
The price of an ounce of gold traded for more than $5,000 an ounce for the first time in history Monday.
The milestone was the latest in a series for precious metal markets that have been on a tear. Less than a year ago, in March, gold’s price surpassed $3,000 an ounce. Then it broke the $4,000 threshold in October.
The price of silver, which increased by an even larger percentage than gold in 2025, has also continued to soar in 2026, and topped $100 an ounce Friday.
Since the start of the year the price of gold has increased by 17%, and silver’s climb continues to outpace it, rising 55% since January 1.
Nevada is the nation’s largest gold producer, and the second largest producer of silver, after Alaska.
The rush to precious metals over the last year has been attributed to a so-called “sell America” trade wherein investors are seeking shelter amid geopolitical volatility, fear of inflation, and the declining value of the world’s dominant currency, the U.S. dollar, which dipped to a four-month low early Monday.
Financial market nervousness has only been heightened so far in 2026 by a steady stream of tumult, including Donald Trump rupturing relations with Europe with his intentions to gobble Greenland, his continuing on-again off-again tariff threats, and his Department of Justice launching an investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as part of Trump’s effort to effectively seize personal control of the the world’s most powerful central bank and with it, the power to set U.S. interest rates.
The share prices of Nevada’s largest mining corporations were also boosted in early trading Monday. That too is a continuation of last year, when global economic anxiety helped Newmont Corp.’s share price to soar by more than 180%, and Barrick Mining Corp’s to shoot up more than 200%. Newmont stock is already up 26% since the start of the new year, while Barrick’s was up slightly more than 20% year to date as of Monday morning.
Barrick is the operator of Nevada Gold Mines, a joint venture with Newmont. Last year, the venture accounted for more than two-thirds of the gold mined in Nevada.