NPR.

This is the indicator from Planet Money.

I'm Paddy Hirsch.

And I'm Adrian Mah.

The global economy is kind of discombobulated right now.

Inflation is rampant, growth is flatlining, and economists are forecasting gloom and doom

for the foreseeable future.

Because of this, we're seeing what finance people like to call a flight to quality.

Can I just say, flight to quality sounds a lot better than freaking out and running for the hills?

Yeah, sure. Absolutely.

It's jargon for people buying super safe investments, things like US Treasury bonds, US dollars,

and usually the longest running safe haven of all?

Gold.

It is often touted as a hedge against inflation.

So it's what you buy to make sure that the value of your money doesn't erode as quickly

as prices rise.

So with inflation at 9.5%, what you would expect is for gold prices to be like punching through

the roof right now.

But they're not.

They are not.

In fact, since March gold has been in free fall, I've got a gold price chart on my desktop.

It looks like one of those really dangerous ski runs that you see in those crazy TikTok

...