The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that surging bullion prices might not stimulate blockbuster dealmaking, but there are signs generalist investors are wading back into gold stocks after a protracted period of shunning the sector. The Globe's Niall McGee quotes RBC portfolio manager Matt Barasch in Toronto saying, "I hadn't gotten a call about gold from a client in the better part of a year and a half, and I got one yesterday." Gold hit a six-year high on Wednesday north of $1,500 an ounce, driven by escalating trade-war tensions between the United States and China, falling interest rates and a slowdown in global growth. Historically sought out as a safe-haven investment, gold has risen by 17 per cent in 2019, after languishing in the $1,300 range for three years. Gold stocks meantime have done even better. Barrick Gold, Agnico Eagle Mines and Kirkland Lake Gold, Canada's biggest gold companies by market value, are up 30 per cent, 41 per cent and 74 per cent respectively this year. "When investors start seeing gold popping up on the front page of the business section, hitting multiyear highs, that's when all of a sudden they start to think, 'Wow, I really need this in my portfolio,'" Mr. Barasch said.