New York (CNN Business) Frazzled investors are rushing to buy gold and government bonds as fears of a global recession, sparked by a trade war, grow more real.

The push into safer investments lifted US gold futures briefly above $1,500 per ounce on Wednesday for the first time in more than six years. US Treasury yields, which move opposite price, collapsed to levels unseen since just before President Donald Trump's 2016 election.

The drop in yields is getting scary." Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group

Nervous central banks around the world are slashing interest rates in a bid to blunt the pain from the tariff battle. The central banks of India, New Zealand and Thailand all dropped rates on Wednesday — and all of them acted more emphatically than anticipated.

Taken together, the developments suggest that investors and central bankers are bracing for economic and financial trouble. It's growing less likely that the United States and China will resolve their conflict soon.

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