Gold ETF buying defies the Fed: North America’s first quarterly inflow of 2026

We have covered the World Gold Council’s record third-quarter ETF figures twice already — the headline in Investors are buying the gold dip and the regional split in Record $31bn Q3 inflows. Kitco’s read of the same report adds tonnage detail and sharpens one point that is easy to miss: North American investors came back.

The scoreboard in tonnes and dollars

As reported by Kitco News from World Gold Council data, 12 October 2026.

Why North America stands out

The third quarter was North America’s first quarterly inflow of 2026, Kitco reports, and it brought the region’s year-to-date total back into positive territory at $4.1bn. That matters because US investors are the ones most directly exposed to the Federal Reserve. They can earn more than 5% on Treasuries — and in September the Fed raised rates again. By the usual logic, that is exactly when US money should leave gold. Instead, North American funds took in about $4bn that month.

How high yields and ETF buying can coexist

The WGC offers an explanation, as reported by Kitco: if bond yields stay high even as near-term hike odds soften, investors may be pricing fiscal and term-premium risk — the extra return demanded for lending to heavily indebted governments for long periods. That kind of risk does not hurt gold the way a Fed hike does; it can even help, because gold is not anyone’s debt. The council first made the argument about UK investors, where it describes the link as tentative — see Gold as a hedge against government debt. Kitco notes the UK’s run of inflows in 12 of the 13 weeks to 25 September.

If the same logic is now reaching US investors, it would help explain why gold has held near $4,200 with US yields at levels last seen in 2002. It is a hypothesis, not a finding, and inflows can reverse quickly. But a quarter of US buying through a Fed hike is a data point worth keeping.

Every figure here is as reported by the publications listed under Sources, at the time they reported it. Prices move; the live gold price has the current one. Nothing on this page is investment advice.