MW Gold is smashing records as the dollar wavers - prompting precious-metal miners to come off the sidelines

By Joy Wiltermuth

Gold producers are looking to revive old mines as prices top $3,400 an ounce

Gold prices surged on Monday by their most since 2020, as buyers returned after a brief dip.

Gold's brief dip last week didn't last long, as buyers returned in force Monday to the year's favored safe-haven asset.

After retreating 2% on Friday in the wake of heightened U.S.-China trade tensions, gold prices (GC00) surged 3.5% Monday to a record $4,359.40 an ounce for the most active contract.

That marked gold's biggest daily percentage gain since April 9, 2020, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

"It's kind of amazing," said Thomas Winmill, portfolio manager at the Midas Discovery Fund MIDSX, of Monday's surge. His fund invests in gold miners and was up about 164% on the year through Friday.

Winmill said gold's fresh surge could be due to the fragile cease-fire in Gaza, central banks buying the dip or increased demand from institutional investors in a supply-constrained market.

Read: Gold prices are so high, even central banks are feeling FOMO

Bigger picture, he sees the uptrend as likely to continue, with most mined gold "already spoken for" and global central banks continuing to diversify their reserves due to the "weaponization" of the U.S. dollar.

"It seems the trend is in place where the dollar is less attractive to a number of central banks that previously were content with dollar-denominated debt," Winmill said.

The dollar DXY is down about 9% against a basket of rival currencies so far in 2025, while gold was up about 65% on the year through Monday, according to FactSet.

With the surge in gold prices, Winmill said new mines are coming online, while older ones that were uneconomical when gold was at $2,000 an ounce are looking to ramp up production.

"As gold prices go up, those that were uneconomic to mine, suddenly they can show profit margins," he said.

Also on Monday, the SPDR Gold Shares exchange-traded fund GLD gained 3.5%, ending above $400 for the first time in history, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

-Joy Wiltermuth

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October 20, 2025 17:09 ET (21:09 GMT)

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