Gold has dropped from its March highs near $5,000 to around $4,552. So what dragged it down? The simple answer is interest rates.

Gold has a strong inverse relationship with rates. When rates rise, or when markets expect them to rise, gold tends to suffer. That's because gold pays you nothing to hold it, so the higher the yield on bonds, the less attractive gold looks by comparison. Right now, 10-year Treasury yields are climbing, which signals that investors are pricing in higher inflation ahead. The result? Gold ETFs have been sold recently.

But here's the other side of the story. While retail and institutional ETF investors were heading for the exits, central banks kept piling in.

According to the World Gold Council's Q1 2026 report, central banks were net buyers of about 244 tonnes during the quarter, a 3% increase year over year. Poland led the pack with 31 tonnes, followed by Uzbekistan at 25 tonnes, with China, Kazakhstan, the Czech Republic, and Malaysia also adding to their reserves.

The biggest seller was Turkey, but the story there is more nuanced than it looks. Most of those sales are actually gold swaps. Turkey is temporarily exchanging gold for dollars to defend its currency as capital flees the country during the ongoing conflict. These are gold-currency swap futures, meaning when the swaps mature, the gold comes right back to Turkey's reserves. So this isn't a loss of conviction in gold.

$HNGE is a company you've probably never heard of, but they just reported earnings yesterday and absolutely crushed it. Revenue came in at $182 million, growing 47% year over year. Gross margin jumped to 85% (up from 81%), and they posted record operating income and free cash flow. Pretty much a clean sweep.

On top of that, the company bought back around 2.1 million of its own shares, shrinking the total share count by 2.5% compared to this time last year. That's a nice bonus for shareholders since fewer shares means each one represents a bigger slice of the company.

So what does Hinge Health actually do? In short, they run a digital clinic for muscle and joint pain. Think back, neck, knee, and shoulder issues. Instead of driving to a physical therapist, patients get personalized exercise programs guided by their phone's camera, which uses computer vision to track their movements and check their form in real time. They also get access to real care teams through the app. Employers and health plans pay for it because it helps people get better without expensive surgeries or endless in-person visits.