◆ August 21 Gold Prices: Pure Gold Buying Price Falls 3,000 Won

According to domestic gold prices from Geumsise.com on August 21, 2026, pure gold per don (3.75g) was priced at 875,000 won for purchase, down 3,000 won from the previous day. The selling price remained unchanged at 750,000 won.

The major precious metal prices are as follows:

• 18K gold: selling price 554,000 won (same as previous day)
• 14K gold: selling price 430,000 won (unchanged from previous day)
• Platinum per don (3.75g): buying price 352,000 won (up 6,000 won), selling price 294,000 won (up 5,000 won)
• Silver per don (3.75g): buying price 12,250 won (up 100 won), selling price 11,450 won (same as previous day)

◆ Wall Street's Three Major Indices All Decline

In New York trading on the 20th local time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished at 52,759.21, down 703.84 points (1.32%) from the previous session. The S&P 500 fell 66.82 points (0.87%) to 7,641.16, and the Nasdaq Composite closed down 263.93 points (1.00%) at 26,067.17.

◆ Three Factors Weighing on the Market: Treasury Yields, Oil Prices, and Consumption

One factor in this downturn was U.S. long-term Treasury yields. The bond market temporarily stabilized the previous day after the U.S. Treasury announced plans to expand long-term Treasury buybacks, but fundamental wariness about America's fiscal deficit and national debt did not disappear overnight. Treasury repurchases can ease some of the market's supply-demand burden, but they are not a means of solving America's fiscal problems themselves. With concerns about long-term Treasury supply and fiscal soundness persisting, bond selling pressure grew again and long-term yields remained elevated. During the session, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fluctuated above and below 4.7%, and the 30-year yield also stood at a high level around 5.2%. When long-term yields stay high, not only do corporate funding costs rise, but the discount rate used to value future corporate earnings is also affected. This is why growth and technology stocks move sensitively to interest rate changes.

International oil price movements also complicated the market's calculus. Under geopolitical uncertainty, rising crude prices can transmit upward pressure through transportation and production costs, which in turn can affect prices. Stronger inflation pressure could reduce the Federal Reserve's room for monetary easing, which is also a burden for risk assets.

On top of this came wariness about U.S. consumption. Walmart shares fell about 9% after its earnings report, widening the Dow's decline. Earnings from major retailers are interpreted not merely as individual company results but as clues to the spending capacity of American households.

◆ Why Gold Again: A Store of Value with Thousands of Years of History

As the U.S. financial market is shaken simultaneously by multiple variables — Treasury yields, fiscal problems, and international oil prices — the value of gold is emerging as a market talking point once again. Gold is not an asset that invests in corporate growth like stocks, nor does it pay fixed interest like bonds. Yet its maintenance of its status as a store of value over thousands of years means it invariably appears whenever financial market uncertainty grows. When multiple risk factors erupt at once in stock and bond markets, gold takes on a different meaning.

Looking back at gold's history, its value predates the birth of modern financial markets by far. From early civilizations such as ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, gold was used as a symbol of wealth and power. Its resistance to rust and corrosion, its ease of reshaping, and above all its limited natural supply gave gold scarcity. Gold later expanded beyond ornament and symbol of power into a means of exchange. With the appearance of gold coins, gold developed into a means of recognized value across different regions and cultures. It is noteworthy in gold's history that even as states rose and fell and monetary systems changed many times, demand for gold itself never disappeared.

◆ From the Gold Standard to Bretton Woods and the Nixon Shock

As the modern financial system took shape, gold rose to an even more important position. The representative example is the gold standard, which linked currency value to a fixed amount of gold and allowed conversion of money into gold under certain conditions. At the time, gold was not simply a precious metal but one of the standards underpinning trust in currency. By placing gold, a physical asset, behind state-issued banknotes, the system secured confidence in currency value.

Although the traditional gold standard was shaken by the world wars and the Great Depression, the relationship between gold and the international monetary order did not vanish immediately. Under the Bretton Woods system agreed in 1944, the dollar was linked to gold and other major currencies moved around the dollar. The United States maintained an official exchange rate of 35 dollars per troy ounce of gold, and the dollar established itself as the central currency of the international financial order.

However, as the world economy expanded, the supply of dollars outside the United States increased dramatically, and the imbalance between U.S. gold holdings and dollars circulating abroad widened. In 1971, then-President Richard Nixon suspended the dollar's convertibility into gold, marking a massive turning point for the international monetary order. The direct link between the dollar and gold was severed, and the world's financial markets began shifting toward the fiat currency system we see today.

This is where it gets interesting. If gold had been pushed out of the center of the monetary system, its financial role should have shrunk dramatically, but history did not unfold that way. Gold exited its official role backing national currencies but maintained its character as a store of value not directly tied to the debts of any particular company or country. The 1970s, with high inflation and the oil shocks, were a representative period demonstrating this. As prices soared and international economic uncertainty grew, market interest in physical assets and gold expanded.

Similar scenes repeated thereafter. Whenever trust in financial institutions wavered, recession fears grew, or anxiety about currency value spread, gold re-emerged as one of the market's options. After the 2008 global financial crisis, gold also showed a significant presence in world financial markets, as central banks around the world slashed interest rates and supplied massive liquidity, expanding debates over currency value and inflation. The same was true during the COVID-19 pandemic. As countries worldwide supplied enormous liquidity to fend off economic shocks, gold reacted sensitively to money supply expansion and real interest rate changes. As the world passed through global inflation and a phase of rapid rate hikes, the variables moving gold became even more complex.

◆ Central Banks Still Hold Gold as Reserve Assets

Another background for gold's continued significance as a financial asset is central banks. Although the gold standard has passed into history, many central banks around the world still hold gold as a reserve asset. Gold is not a security issued by a particular company, nor a bond whose repayment is promised by a particular state. Having no issuer is a unique characteristic of gold among modern financial assets. Holding a particular country's currency or Treasury bonds as reserve assets inevitably exposes holders to that country's credit and policies to some extent. Gold, by contrast, can be used as one means of diversifying foreign exchange reserves due to its nature as a physical asset.

◆ Gold Has Weaknesses Too: A Non-Interest-Bearing Asset

That said, it is not appropriate to regard gold as an absolute safe asset whose price always rises. Gold has clear weaknesses. It does not generate regular cash flows from holding alone, unlike stock dividends or bond interest. Therefore, when U.S. real interest rates rise, the opportunity cost of holding gold can grow. If investors can earn relatively high interest through safe bonds, the appeal of non-interest-paying gold may diminish.

The dollar's value is also important. In the international gold market, gold is traded mainly in dollars, so dollar strength and weakness is one of the key variables moving gold prices. Central bank buying and selling, investment fund flows, geopolitical risks, and inflation outlooks also exert complex influences. Therefore, a Wall Street decline does not necessarily mean gold rises. Even when international conflicts occur or prices rise, gold's movement can vary depending on how the market interprets them.

◆ What to Watch Now: The Relationship Between U.S. Treasuries and Gold

When looking at gold in the current financial market, the relationship with U.S. Treasuries deserves particular attention. U.S. Treasuries are considered one of the representative safe assets in global financial markets. However, if debates over America's fiscal deficit and national debt expand and long-term Treasury yields remain high, the calculations of investors choosing safe assets may become more complicated than before. Bonds offer interest but are affected by the issuer's credit and interest rates. Gold pays no interest but is not the debt of any particular country or company. The dollar is the world's core reserve currency but cannot be free from U.S. monetary and fiscal policy. The movement of funds among these assets with different characteristics is ultimately a process showing what the market judges to be the greatest risk. Gold's long history offers implications for the current financial market in this respect.