Overview

• Gold surpassed $4,000 per troy ounce on Oct. 7 after closing at $3,948.5 on Oct. 6 on Comex, extending a year-to-date surge reported above 50%.
• Bitcoin briefly traded above $125,000 over the weekend before easing, marking a fresh peak during the latest flight to alternative assets.
• Political shocks — France’s prime minister stepping down and Sanae Takaichi winning Japan’s LDP leadership — stoked risk aversion and weakened the yen’s safe-haven appeal.
• The U.S. government shutdown created a blackout of official data releases, adding uncertainty that boosted demand for non-dollar refuges.
• Institutional flows strengthened the move, with renewed gold ETF buying, hedge funds holding a record roughly $73 billion in gold per CFTC data, and central banks continuing to accumulate; some analysts expect further gains, including a forecast that bitcoin could reach $135,000.