Gold steadies near $4,400 as bond rout and Strait of Hormuz deadlock offset each other

Gold is doing something unusual: sitting still. After weeks of being tugged between geopolitical fear and bond market math, the metal has settled around $4,400 per ounce in mid-August 2026, essentially shrugging at two forces that would normally send it sprinting in opposite directions. On one side, a widening bond sell-off is pushing long-duration yields higher, making gold’s zero-yield proposition look increasingly expensive to hold. On the other, an unresolved standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most consequential shipping chokepoints on Earth, is keeping safe-haven demand firmly in place. The bond rout squeezing gold’s appeal The Federal Reserve’s rate path is central to the calculus. Traders are recalibrating expectations for monetary policy as persistent inflationary pressures, partly fueled by the very energy disruptions tied to the Hormuz crisis, complicate any dovish pivot. Gold’s pullback from nearly $5,000 per ounce earlier in 2026, when conflict-driven panic buying pushed prices to extraordinary levels, tells its own story. That retreat of roughly $600 per ounce reflects a market that has partially priced out the most extreme geopolitical scenarios while adjust...