The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that thanks to U.S. President Donald Trump's threats of tariffs, gold is on a roll. The Globe's David Berman writes that last week, gold reached a new intraday high of $2,906 an ounce before the rally sputtered Thursday. Gold stocks also shone over the same three-day period. The NYSE Arca Gold BUGS Index, which tracks the world's major producers, including Agnico Eagle Mines and Barrick Gold, rose 5.5 per cent, offering equity investors an attractive offset against trade-related turbulence elsewhere. The latest gains extended a gold rally that began about a year ago, after investors anticipated central bank rate cuts as inflation subsided. As interest rates decline, the opportunity cost of holding gold shrinks because alternative safe investments, such as cash and short-term securities, lose some of their appeal. Central banks of several emerging economies, including India and Turkey, played another role in gold's recent ascent: Some of them have become enthusiastic buyers of bullion in an attempt to diversify their foreign exchange reserves beyond the U.S. dollar. UBS Global Wealth Management expects central banks will buy a net 900 metric tonnes of gold in 2025.