The gold market continues to attract significant attention as investors seek to hedge against geopolitical uncertainty. The precious metal may maintain its strong upward trend, given that global economic leaders have identified geo-economic confrontation as the biggest risk facing the world this year, followed by conflicts between states, extreme weather events, societal polarization, and disinformation, according to the latest report from the World Economic Forum.
The World Economic Forum begins its annual conference on Monday, bringing together business and political leaders in Davos, Switzerland. Ahead of the conference, the forum released its Global Risks Report 2026, reflecting deep concerns among leaders and experts.
This global economic conference comes just days after US President Donald Trump launched a new round of escalation in his ongoing global trade war. In a social media post, Trump reignited tensions with Europe, threatening to impose tariffs of 10%, potentially rising to 25%, on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland, in an attempt to pressure them into supporting his bid to annex Greenland.
Following these threats, members of the European Parliament announced that they would freeze ratification of the trade agreement reached last summer between Trump and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.
According to a survey conducted by the World Economic Forum, geopolitical and economic uncertainty is expected to remain a key element of the global economy.
The Global Risks Report indicated that nearly 50% of surveyed forum members anticipate a turbulent or stormy world over the next two years, a 14-percentage-point increase from last year. Another 40% expect conditions to be at least unstable, while 9% anticipate stability and only 1% expect calm. Over the next ten years, 57% expect a turbulent or stormy world, 32% unstable conditions, 10% stable conditions, and only 1% calm conditions.
Børge Brende, President and CEO of the World Economic Forum, said:
“A new competitive system is taking shape as major powers seek to secure their spheres of influence. This changing landscape, where cooperation looks different than it did before, reflects the practical reality that cooperative approaches and a spirit of dialogue remain essential.”
He added: "Our annual meeting in Davos will be a vital platform for understanding risks and opportunities and building the necessary bridges to deal with them."
This uncertainty is one of the key factors explaining why many commodity analysts predict gold prices will reach $5,000 an ounce and perhaps even surpass it during the first half of the year. The precious metal started the year strongly, with spot gold trading at $4,671.40 an ounce, up 1.6% on the day.