Gold’s stratospheric rise, the best percentage gain since 1979, surprised even the most bullish metal mavens as Wall Street firms chased the run-up. The precious metal, which sat at $2,606 in December 2024, rallied over 66% in 2025, settling around the $4,325 level at year-end.
Looking ahead, firms, including Bank of America, see the yellow metal reaching $5,000 an ounce due to continued central bank buying, rising deficits tied to U.S. fiscal policy and a weaker U.S. dollar, which had its worst year since 2017. The Wall Street Journal Dollar Index fell over 6%, as tracked by Dow Jones Market Data Group.
BofA Gold forecast 2026: $5,000
“It’s still underinvested, I think at the at the moment. And gold markets don’t normally come to an end because their overbought, gold markets come to and because the underlying motives that actually started the bull market have subsided and that honestly we don’t see. I think everything that I outlined before and what made us bullish, I think is still very much in place now,” said Bank of America strategist Michael Widner during a metals roundtable hosted in mid-December.
‘PAWN STARS’ HOST WEIGHS IN ON RECORD YEAR FOR GOLD, SILVER
While BofA’s gold price target bakes in around a 14% advance from current levels, “a hawkish tilt by the Fed is a risk,” Widner wrote.
ELON MUSK SOUNDS ALARM ON SILVER’S WINNING STREAK
In addition to gold, silver saw its own record year with a gain of more than 142% while copper advanced over 41%, the largest one-year net and percentage gain since 2009.
Exchange-traded funds tied to precious metals, including the SPDR Gold Trust, the iShares Silver Trust and the United States Copper Fund, all saw gains that mirrored the metals in 2025.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLD | SPDR GOLD SHARES TRUST – USD ACC | 398.05 | +1.74 | +0.44% |
| SLV | ISHARES SILVER TRUST – USD ACC | 65.71 | +1.29 | +2.00% |
| CPER | UNITED STS COMMODITY INDEX FD COM UNIT REPSTG U S COPPER | 33.60 | +0.34 | +1.02% |
MacroMavens President Stephanie Pomboy, even admittedly surprised by the pace of the rally in precious metals, sees more ahead this year.
“I guess I am surprised at the speed at which we got to these numbers, although I think there is so much more to come,” Pomboy told FOX Business’ Charles Payne. “The rationale as to why I wanted people to go long hard assets over paper has barely started to fall into place and that rationale primarily was my forecast that we would see a resumption of QE (quantitative easing) and we did. I know they (the Federal Reserve) are not calling it QE, non-QE or QE light or whatever. They are dipping their toe in the water, and I think what’s going to happen as we turn the page to 2026 is that the balance sheet will become the main source of monetary stimulus.”
“The balance sheet expansion is outright monetary debasement and there’s nothing better for precious metals than that,” she added.
MORTGAGE RATES HIT 2025 LOWS AT YEAR-END
FED CUTS INTEREST RATES FOR THIRD STRAIGHT TIME
The Federal Reserve cut interest rates a quarter point in December, the third consecutive cut in 2025. Officials also signaled the resumption of treasury buying.
“As detailed in a statement released today by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, reserve management purchases will amount to $40 billion in the first month and may remain elevated for a few months to alleviate expected near-term pressures in money markets. Thereafter, we expect the size of reserve management purchases to decline, though the actual pace will depend on market conditions,” Chairman Jerome Powell reviewed in his December press conference.
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