Stock exchanges across Asia, Europe and the US have generally fallen over the past week.
At the same time, the price of precious metals such as gold, silver and platinum has risen.
The futures price of gold has climbed 5.5 percent to $4,662 per ounce (31.1 grams). The spot price has risen 5.2 percent to $4,603.
This week, clouds of worry have clouded the markets. The biggest is the US's runaway national debt, with rising interest rates on US government bonds.
“This is exactly the kind of structural, long-term momentum that gold investors are betting on. It also fits well with why central banks continue to shift reserves from government bonds to gold,” Diane Garrett, CEO of the American mining company Hycroft, writes to CNBC.
In January this year, gold was listed at a record price of $5,590, but it has since fallen significantly.
Giovanni Staunovo, a commodities analyst at major bank UBS, points out that rising debt levels globally, and a relatively weak dollar, were the basis for gold's strong rise last year.
He believes that worry is coming back to life.
“This should push the gold price to $5,400 per ounce over the next 12 months, in our assessment,” Staunovo writes to CNBC.
