Gold prices for Wednesday, August 6, 2025: Gold starts above $3,400 before tariff deadline

Gold futures kicked off Wednesday at $3,434.90, marking a 1.6% increase from Tuesday’s close of $3,381.90. Prices for gold continued climbing in early trades, momentarily dipping after hitting a fresh weekly peak.

Starting Thursday, many of Trump’s mutual tariffs will take effect, along with new tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. Interestingly, financial markets seem to react less to these announcements lately, although that might shift as the taxes roll out. Bloomberg Economics anticipates that the upcoming tariffs will push U.S. tariff rates up to 15.2%, a considerable jump from 2.3% last year. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 dropped by 0.6%, while gold saw a slight rise of 0.1%.

The latest gold futures opening price reflects an increase of 1.6% from Tuesday’s closing, showing a 3.3% gain from the opening price of $3,325.80 the week before July 30. The opening price on July 3, 2025, also saw a 2.2% rise compared to $3,362.

24/7 Gold Price Tracking: Remember, you can keep an eye on the current gold prices through Yahoo Finance anytime.

I’m curious about the leading companies in the gold sector. Anyone else? You can use the Yahoo Finance Screener to find a list of top-performing companies, tailoring it with a variety of filtering criteria.

As we discussed this week, investing in gold involves a four-step process. Today, we’ll focus on step 3, which is about choosing the form of gold to hold.

Once you’ve determined your gold allocation, the next step is to decide how you want to hold it. Your choices include:

1. Physical gold

2. Gold mining stocks

3. Gold ETFs

Pros and Cons of Physical Gold

Physical gold can include coins, bars, and gems. The advantages here are:

1. Accessibility: Having physical gold at home means you can use it in emergencies.

2. No ongoing fees: Unlike gold mining stocks that are influenced by various business factors, physical gold doesn’t come with additional volatility or ongoing charges.

However, there are also disadvantages:

1. Theft risk: Physical gold needs to be stored securely, whether at home or in a safe place.

2. Lower liquidity: Selling physical gold can be a hassle compared to stocks or ETFs, and you might have to deal with dealer fees.

Pros and Cons of Gold Mining Stocks

Investing in gold mining stocks offers indirect exposure to gold. The benefits include:

1. High liquidity: Large mining companies like Barrick Gold typically have narrower bid spreads, which indicates better liquidity.

2. Storage ease: Mining stocks are stored digitally, taking up no physical space; this can be a plus—unless, of course, the market becomes inaccessible.

But there are downsides to owning mining stocks:

1. Volatility: These stocks can fluctuate more drastically than gold prices.

2. No utility: Mining stocks can be valuable, yet they don’t function as a medium of exchange.

Pros and Cons of Gold ETFs

Gold ETFs invest in either physical gold or mining stocks. Their advantages include:

1. No storage hassle: ETFs, similar to mining stocks, exist digitally, so you don’t need to physically store anything.

2. Better liquidity: Popular gold ETFs, such as SPDR Gold Stock, are frequently traded, enhancing liquidity.

3. Price correlation: ETFs backed by physical gold tend to be more stable compared to mining stocks.

Nonetheless, some downsides to ETFs are:

1. Fees: ETFs will charge expenses; for instance, SPDR has a 0.40% expense ratio.

2. No exchange utility: Like mining stocks, you can’t typically use ETF shares to barter in emergencies.

The gold price trend, whether from last month or last year, indicates the steady increase in the value of this precious metal.

Gold has historically experienced different cycles. From 2009 to 2011, it was in a growth phase, then fell and didn’t hit a new high for nearly a decade.

In those stagnant years, gold positions could negatively affect investment returns. If that’s a concern for you, you may want to lower your allocation. Conversely, if you’re open to a year of poor performance in exchange for potential gains later, a higher allocation might be suitable.

Gold has garnered attention lately, with many experts expressing positive views. A Goldman Sachs survey suggested that gold could reach $3,700 per troy ounce by 2025—a significant rise, driven by increased central bank demand and uncertainties related to U.S. tariff changes.

If you’re interested in the historical performance of gold, Yahoo Finance has information available dating back to 2000.