In a world where financial transactions ping around the world in a fraction of a second, the booming triangular trade underscores the gold market’s reliance on lumps of metal. In normal times, claims on billions of dollars of gold are traded without the bars ever leaving a vault.

Gold soared to a record $2,990.21 an ounce on Friday, surpassing highs set earlier in the week, as President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and weak inflation data drove investors toward safe investments.

Uncertainty about the global economy and Trump's tariff plans have triggered a sell-off in the US stock market.  And with this volatility in markets, strategists at BNP Paribas expect gold to be a beneficiary amid what it calls "Trump tariff chaos and geopolitical shifts.