%{{tag.tag}} {{articledata.title}} {{moment(articledata.cdate)}} @{{articledata.company.replace(" ","")}} comment %Gold just closed out its best quarterly performance in nearly 40 years. The precious metal that’s used to make jewelry had its strongest quarter since 1986 amid a flight to safety among nervous investors worried about trade wars and a U.S. recession. The spot price of gold rose 19.3% in this year’s first quarter to finish trading on March 31 at an all-time high of $3,157.60 U.S. per ounce. Gold has now hit 18 closing highs in 2025 and we’re only three months into the year. The last time gold performed this well was the third quarter of 1986, when it gained 24% immediately after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster when the world was on edge. In addition to investors buying physical gold and spot gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the yellow metal also continues to benefit from buying among central banks. In China and elsewhere, central banks are buying physical gold amid global uncertainty and to lessen their exposure to the U.S. dollar, which is the world’s reserve currency. Expectations for two to three interest rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve this year is also underpinning the price of gold as lower rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding gold. The rally in gold’s price is having a cascading effect, lifting the price of miner stocks such as %BarrickGold (NYSE: $GOLD ) and retailers such as %Costco (NASDAQ: $COST ) that sell gold bars to consumers.