Gold prices hit $4,695 as dollar weakness and Treasury buybacks fuel late-summer rally

Gold is having a moment. Spot prices climbed 1% to $4,695.31 per ounce on August 24, 2026, touching levels the metal hadn’t seen in roughly 15 weeks. The single-day gain capped a weekly advance of more than 5%. Intraday trading pushed prices as high as $4,738 at certain points, with spot rates holding a range between $4,650 and $4,697 through most of the session. What actually moved the needle The proximate cause traces back to the US Treasury, which announced it would double its buyback of long-dated government bonds to $4 billion per session. Bond buybacks at that scale pull yields lower, which in turn pressures the dollar. Geopolitical stress added to the mix. Escalating US-Iran tensions contributed to demand for assets that hold value outside any single government’s balance sheet. ETF inflows and central bank buying told the real story The most striking data point from the week wasn’t the price itself. It was the flow. Gold-backed exchange-traded funds absorbed more than 28 tons of the metal in a single week, equivalent to roughly $6.4 billion in fresh capital. Central banks reinforced the picture from the other side. Sovereign purchasers continued adding to their gold reserves...