GLD 10-Q: Smart Summary

• Trust structure: The SPDR® Gold Trust was formed on November 12, 2004 under New York law pursuant to a trust indenture, with a September 30th fiscal year-end; it issues Shares in minimum denominations of 100,000 Shares (Baskets) in exchange for gold deposits and distributes gold upon Basket redemptions, with the investment objective of reflecting the performance of the price of gold bullion less expenses.
• Key service providers: World Gold Trust Services, LLC is the Sponsor; The Bank of New York Mellon is the Trustee; State Street Global Advisors Funds Distributors, LLC is the Marketing Agent; and HSBC Bank plc and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. are the Custodians.
• Exchange listings: Shares trade on NYSE Arca under the symbol 'GLD' and are also listed on the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, the Mexican Stock Exchange (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores), the Singapore Exchange Limited, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
• Passive management: The Trustee does not actively manage the gold held by the Trust — it does not sell gold at price highs, acquire gold at price lows, or use hedging techniques; losses from price decreases will adversely affect Share value.

• Basis of accounting: The Trust is treated as an investment company for accounting purposes only under FASB ASC Topic 946, Financial Services—Investment Companies; it is not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
• Fair value of gold holdings: All gold is classified as Level 1 (unadjusted quoted prices in active markets); the Trust's investment in gold was valued at $155B as of March 31, 2026 and $124.4B as of September 30, 2025, with no transfers between Level 1 and other levels during either period. NAV is determined using the IBA LBMA Gold Price PM (3:00 PM London auction), or the next most recent LBMA Gold Price if the PM fix is unavailable by 12:00 PM New York time.
• Share creations and redemptions: For the six months ended March 31, 2026, 92,300 thousand Shares were created (valued at $38.2B) and 79,600 thousand were redeemed (valued at $33.3B), for a net value change of $4.9B; Baskets are created/redeemed only in blocks of 100,000 Shares through Authorized Participants exclusively in exchange for gold.
• Realized and unrealized gains: For the six months ended March 31, 2026, net realized and change in unrealized gain on investment in gold totaled $26B, comprising a $120.2M realized gain from gold sold to pay expenses, a $13.8B realized gain from gold distributed for Share redemptions, and a $12.1B change in unrealized gain; comparable figures for the six months ended March 31, 2025 were $13.8B total, consisting of $46.4M, $4.6B, and $9.1B, respectively.
• Tax status and segment reporting: The Trust is classified as a 'grantor trust' for U.S. federal income tax purposes and is not itself subject to federal income tax; no reserves for uncertain tax positions are required as of March 31, 2026, with the 2023, 2024, and 2025 tax years remaining open for examination and no examinations in progress. The Trust operates as a single operating and reporting segment.

• Sponsor's fee: The Trust's only recurring fixed expense is the Sponsor's fee, which accrues daily at an annual rate equal to 0.40% of the daily NAV; in exchange, the Sponsor assumes responsibility for all ordinary fees and expenses of the Trust, including fees of the Trustee, Custodians, Sponsor, Marketing Agent, certain taxes, printing and mailing costs, legal and audit fees, registration fees, NYSE Arca listing fees, and other marketing costs and expenses.
• Trustee affiliates: Affiliates of the Trustee may from time to time act as Authorized Participants or purchase or sell gold or Shares for their own account, as agent for their customers, and for accounts over which they exercise investment discretion.

• Gold price risk: The Trust's value is directly tied to the price of gold, and the Sponsor expects the value of an investment in the Shares to decline proportionately if the price of gold declines. Factors cited as potentially affecting gold's price include global supply and demand (jewelry, technology, industrial applications, investor bar/coin purchases, forward selling, hedge unwinding, central bank activity, and production levels in China, Australia, Canada, and the United States), inflation expectations, currency exchange rates, interest rates, hedge fund and commodity fund activity, economic variables such as income growth and monetary policies, and unexpected global or regional political, economic, or financial events.
• No long-term value assurance: The note explicitly states there is no assurance that gold will maintain its long-term value in terms of purchasing power in the future.

• Scope of indemnification: The Trust indemnifies the Sponsor and its shareholders, members, directors, officers, employees, affiliates, and subsidiaries against losses, liabilities, or expenses incurred under the Trust Indenture, excluding cases of gross negligence, bad faith, willful misconduct, willful malfeasance, or reckless disregard of duties; indemnification includes payment of costs and expenses of defending any claim or liability under the Trust Indenture.
• Marketing Agent and Authorized Participant coverage: The Sponsor is also indemnified by the Trust against any loss, liability, or expense arising under the Amended and Restated Marketing Agent Agreement (effective July 17, 2015, as amended) or any agreement with an Authorized Participant, insofar as such loss arises from any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact in any written statement provided to the Sponsor by the Trustee; amounts payable to the Sponsor are secured by a lien on the Trust's assets.
• Sponsor's reciprocal indemnification and subrogation: The Sponsor has agreed to indemnify certain parties against certain liabilities and to contribute to payments those parties may be required to make; the Trustee has agreed to reimburse such parties solely from the Trust's assets to the extent the Sponsor has not paid when due, with the Trustee acquiring subrogation rights against the Sponsor for any amounts so reimbursed.

Indemnification exposure: In the normal course of business, the Trust may enter into contracts with service providers containing general indemnification clauses; maximum exposure under these arrangements is unknown as it would involve future potential claims that have not yet occurred.

• NAV per Share: NAV per Share rose from $396.12 to $423.34 for the three months ended Mar-31, 2026 (total return at NAV: 6.87%) and from $352.09 to $423.34 for the six months ended Mar-31, 2026 (total return at NAV: 20.24%), compared to prior-year returns of 19.20% and 18.22%, respectively.
• Market Value per Share: Market Value per Share ended at $430.29 for both the three and six months ended Mar-31, 2026, yielding total returns at market value of 8.57% and 21.05%, respectively, versus 19.00% and 18.55% in the comparable prior-year periods.
• Net investment loss: Net investment loss per Share was $(0.44) for the three months ended Mar-31, 2026 and $(0.83) for the six months ended Mar-31, 2026, based on average Shares outstanding; the ratio of net investment loss to average net assets was (0.40)% (annualized) across all four periods presented.
• Expenses: Gross and net expenses as a ratio to average net assets were both 0.40% (annualized) for every period presented, with no difference between gross and net expense ratios.

Subsequent events: No known events have occurred subsequent to March 31, 2026 that require additional disclosure in these financial statements.

• Trust structure: SPDR® Gold Trust, formed November 12, 2004, issues Baskets of Shares in exchange for gold deposits and distributes gold upon Basket redemptions; its investment objective is for Shares to reflect the performance of gold bullion prices less Trust operating expenses.
• Custodians and Authorized Participants: Gold is held by HSBC Bank plc and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. as Custodians; Authorized Participants as of the filing date are Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Merrill Lynch Professional Clearing Corp., Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, RBC Capital Markets LLC, UBS Securities LLC, and Virtu Americas LLC.
• NAV valuation policy: The Trustee values gold using the LBMA Gold Price PM on each NYSE Arca trading day (at the earlier of PM announcement or 12:00 PM New York time); if no PM price is available, the next most recent LBMA Gold Price (AM or PM) is used unless deemed inappropriate, in which case the Trustee and Sponsor identify an alternative basis — use of an alternative indicator could result in materially different fair value pricing.
• Gold bar counts: Bureau Veritas conducted the annual full bar count at HSBC's London vault and JPMorgan's London and New York vaults on September 30, 2025; the most recent random sample count was conducted at JPMorgan's London vault on March 25, 2026, JPMorgan's New York vault on March 19, 2026, and HSBC's London vault on March 25, 2026; JPMorgan held no gold at its Zurich vault during either count period.

• Share activity (Q1 2026): In the three months ended March 31, 2026, 39,000,000 Shares (390 Baskets) were created in exchange for 3,584,534.3 ounces of gold, 46,800,000 Shares (468 Baskets) were redeemed in exchange for 4,300,883.2 ounces of gold, and 32,336.2 ounces of gold were sold to pay expenses.
• Gold holdings: At March 31, 2026, the Trust held 33,634,221.4 ounces of allocated gold (100% in London Good Delivery bars) with a market value of $154,998,264,698 (cost— $96,197,525,739), up from 32,528,241.1 ounces with a market value of $124,430,280,803 (cost— $77,748,740,273) at September 30, 2025.
• Cash and liquidity: At March 31, 2026, the Trust held no cash balances; the Trustee sells only the exact amount of gold needed to cover expenses, and the Trust is expected to record no net cash flow from operations with a zero cash balance at each period end.
• Gold price (Q1 2026): The LBMA Gold Price PM averaged $4,872.89 per ounce in the three months ended March 31, 2026, reaching a high of $5,405.00 on Jan 29, 2026 and a low of $4,352.95 on Jan 2, 2026, ending the period at $4,608.35 on Mar 31, 2026; the all-time high since inception (November 12, 2004) is $5,405.00 on Jan 29, 2026.