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A choppy, slightly lower year: a strong dollar and four Fed rate hikes weighed on gold before a late-year stock-market slump revived it.
Monthly path for 2018, anchored to the real open ($ 1,303.00), the high in January, the low in August, and the close ($ 1,282.00). The dashed line marks the yearly average; intra-year movement between anchor points is illustrative.
Year-over-year, gold fell -1.61% versus its 2017 close of $ 1,303.00.
Gold’s high came in January, before a strengthening US dollar took control of the market.
The August low came as the dollar surged and the Federal Reserve kept raising rates.
2018 was a frustrating year for gold bulls for most of its length. A strong US dollar and a Federal Reserve that hiked rates four times pushed gold down from $1,360 in January to a low near $1,178 by August, even as trade tensions simmered. For much of the year, the dollar’s strength simply overwhelmed gold’s safe-haven appeal.
The story changed in the fourth quarter. As global stock markets tumbled into year-end, investors rediscovered gold as a hedge, and it rallied back to around $1,282 to finish the year only modestly lower. That Q4 turn planted the seeds of the 2019 breakout.
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates four times, lifting the US dollar.
The US-China trade war escalated, but a strong dollar initially overshadowed safe-haven demand.
Emerging-market stress (Turkey, Argentina) rattled markets mid-year.
A sharp Q4 stock-market selloff sparked a late recovery in gold.
A strengthening US dollar and four Federal Reserve rate hikes weighed on gold through the summer, pushing it to a low near $1,178.
A sharp stock-market selloff in the fourth quarter of 2018 renewed safe-haven demand and lifted gold back toward $1,280.
Gold's 2018 high was about $ 1,360.00 per troy ounce, reached in January.
The average gold price in 2018 was roughly $ 1,268.00 per troy ounce — it opened near $ 1,303.00 and closed around $ 1,282.00.
Gold fell about 1.6% over 2018, between a low of $ 1,178.00 and a high of $ 1,360.00.
Historical figures are approximate annual values shown for educational analysis and may differ from other sources. This is not financial advice — see our disclaimer.