Kai Ryssdal

On the program today, macroeconomics in two flavors, gold and AI.

From American Public Media, this is Marketplace.

In Los Angeles, I'm Kai Rizal.

It is Monday today.

This one is the 26th of January.

Good as it always is to have you along, everybody.

We are going to begin today with a story that's not really about the story that you think is going to be the story.

I know, but stick with me.

I'll go slow.

Gold has been, and there's really no other word for it, simply soaring.

Futures topped $5,000 an ounce over the weekend, first time that has ever happened.

And $5,000 and change per troy ounce is almost twice what gold was just a year ago.

And that's been happening.

And here's the twist.

As it's been happening, gold has started to displace dollar-denominated assets in the holdings of central banks around the world.

Reuters reports gold now slightly outvalues treasury bonds in those holdings.

And data from the IMF shows U.S.

dollar assets now account for less than half of those holdings in absolute terms, even as gold has risen sharply to make up around 28 percent of those holdings.

That is exactly what you might expect to see happen if the U.S.

dollar were losing its appeal as a safe haven go-to.