MW Gold enters a bear market for the first time since 2022. How the 'safe-haven' metal got here.

By Myra P. Saefong

It's been 91 days since gold hit its recent peak - making for the quickest entry into a bear market since 2008

Gold futures declined Wednesday to settle at their lowest level since November.

Gold futures settled Wednesday at their lowest price of the year - officially marking their entry into a bear market for the first time in four years, even as investors continue to scramble for safer places to park their money amid an increasingly uncertain path for the war in the Middle East.

The drop in gold prices (GC00) was all about interest rates on Wednesday, according to Chris Gaffney, president of World Markets at EverBank - with the higher U.S. consumer-price index reading leading investors to believe that the next move for U.S. interest rates will be upward.

The yearly U.S. rate of inflation climbed to 4.2% in May, from 3.8% in the prior month, reaching the highest level since May 2023 and making a Federal Reserve rate cut unlikely anytime soon. The central bank is now seen as more likely than not to raise borrowing costs this year.

Read: Inflation is set to hit the highest level since 2023 - and the Fed is back in the hot seat

Ongoing geopolitical tensions are keeping upward pressure on oil prices (CL.1) (BRN00), which means higher inflation for longer, Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at Zaye Capital Markets, told MarketWatch. "That also means the Fed cannot cut rates easily," he noted, helping traders keep Treasurys at the top of their list. Gold offers no yield, so the opportunity cost of holding it increases when interest rates climb.

On Comex, the most active, August gold contract (GCQ26) fell by 3.6%, or $153.10, to settle at $4,133.30 an ounce, down for a fourth straight session. That was the lowest finish since November 2025, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Gold futures entered a bear market at Wednesday's settlement - meaning they've fallen 20% or more from their recent high back in March. It's been 91 days since then, so this is the quickest entry into a bear market since the height of the financial crisis of 2008, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

The latest bear-market entry for gold futures took 91 days - the quickest since 2008, when prices took 23 days to fall 20% or more from their recent high.

When prices reached their peak this year - a record high of $5,354.80 on Jan. 29 - they traded as much as 23.4% higher year to date, but have now lost nearly 4.8% so far this year.

"Gold is not paying you anything, while [Treasurys] and bonds are paying you to park your money risk-free," said Aslam.

On Wednesday, the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond BX:TMUBMUSD30Y rose to 5.016%, while the rate on the 10-year Treasury note BX:TMUBMUSD10Y climbed to 4.535%.

Uncertainty surrounding developments in the Iran war has failed to provide a lift to prices for gold, which has often been seen as a safe-haven investment.

On Wednesday, U.S. benchmark stock indexes traded broadly lower after President Donald Trump told reporters that the U.S. plans more action against Iran, adding that "we were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA was falling 1.4% at 50,153 in recent afternoon trading Wednesday, while the S&P 500 SPX was dropping 1.2% at 7,301 and the Nasdaq Composite COMP was losing 1.5% at 25,288.

Read: MarketWatch's live markets blog for Wednesday

Gold has been moving in step with equities, Michael Armbruster, co-founder and managing partner at futures brokerage Altavest, told MarketWatch.

Since the beginning of June - around when the Nasdaq-100 NDX peaked - the correlation coefficient between gold futures and the Nasdaq has been 0.91, according to a MarketWatch analysis of FactSet data. A reading of 1.00 means they move exactly in sync.

On Tuesday, gold was up in early trading alongside the Nasdaq-100, but reversed lower along with the tech-heavy index and the S&P 500, Armbruster noted. He said it reminds him of 2008, when gold initially sold off with equities before bottoming in November 2008 - and it "hasn't looked back since."

"Our expectation for a while has been that gold would struggle through June, but its macro setup for the second half of the year gets much more bullish," said Armbruster.

Still, don't count on gold to always find support from changes in the geopolitical landscape. As Mark Hulbert, a columnist for MarketWatch, explained recently, there is not stable relationship between geopolitical risk and gold's price.

Read: The great gold myth: Why the precious metal isn't the war hedge we're told it is

EverBank's Gaffney said gold prices are likely to see further declines until there's a clearer path for U.S. interest rates. However, gold should still remain an important part of an individual's portfolio as it acts as a "catastrophe insurance," he said.

'The current selloff seems like a great opportunity to put some additional money to work in the precious-metals market.'Chris Gaffney, EverBank

Gaffney said that in conversations with investors calling into EverBank's World Markets desk, the firm has been suggesting that they buy at these levels. "The current selloff seems like a great opportunity to put some additional money to work in the precious-metals market," he said.

-Myra P. Saefong

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June 10, 2026 15:03 ET (19:03 GMT)

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