Gold in a Storm: How Gold Holds Up During Market Crises

In times of market stress, investors often search for assets that can preserve value and diversify risk. Gold is once again proving its worth surging more than 25% amid recent global uncertainty, reinforcing that its current breakout is no fluke. This rally is consistent with gold’s long-standing reputation as a safe haven. Over the last 50 years, gold has repeatedly earned its place as a crisis hedge. To prove it, we examined how gold performed during some of the most severe U.S. market downturns.

Before we take a look at the crises, let’s level set and see how gold holds up versus bonds, stocks, and commodities over the past 50+ years. As you can see in the below chart, gold is a top-performing asset over short-, medium- and long-term windows:

Gold performance versus other asset classes (1972 to 2025)

Source: VanEck, FactSet. Data as of March 2025. “U.S. Stocks” represented by the S&P 500 Index. “U.S. Bonds” represented by U.S. Treasury Bond (10-Year Estimate)—calculated using a constant average duration of 8.105 and the daily yield from U.S. 10-year treasuries to infer a daily return series. “Commodities” represented by Bloomberg Commodity Index. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Not only does gold outperform, it outperforms independently. The chart below demonstrates that gold is uncorrelated to stocks and bonds:

Gold correlation with U.S. stocks and bonds (1972 to 2025)

Source: VanEck, FactSet. Data as of March 2025. “U.S. Stocks” represented by the S&P 500 Index. “U.S. Bonds” represented by U.S. Treasury Bond (10-Year Estimate). Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Performance of Gold, Stocks, and Bonds in Major Crises

Global Stocks and Bonds vs. Gold Periods of Heightened Risk

Source: VanEck, World Gold Council. Data as of December 31, 2024. Dates utilized: Dot-com bubble = Mar 2000 to Mar 2001; 9/11 = Sep 2001; Global Financial Crisis = Aug 2007 to Mar 2009; Sovereign Debt Crisis = Jan 2010 to Jun 2010; Brexit = June 2016; COVID 19 = Jan 2020 to Mar 2020; Russia/Ukraine = Jan 2022 to Dec 2022; Regional Bank Crisis = Mar 2023; October 7th Attacks = Oct 2023; “Global Stocks” represented by MSCI World Index. “Global Bonds” represented by Bloomberg Global Aggregate Bond Index. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Index descriptions included at the end of this presentation.

Why Gold Matters in a Diversified Portfolio

As the chart above shows, gold often outperformed when it mattered most, during deep equity drawdowns or systemic shocks. It doesn’t always beat stocks or bonds, but in extreme uncertainty, it has historically held or gained value when other asset classes fell.

Advisors and investors looking for robust portfolio construction should consider a strategic allocation to gold (5%–10%) to reduce drawdowns and improve resilience. In times of crisis, gold doesn’t just protect value, it buys time and confidence.