Gold Pushing Higher for the 9th-Straight Session- New record COMMODITIES: Gold Pushing Higher for the Ninth-Straight Session as It Rises to a Fresh Record
09:23 AM EDT, 07/29/2020 (MT Newswires) -- Gold continued its record run early on Wednesday, rising for a ninth-straight day as the U.S. dollar continued to sink.
Gold for August delivery was last seen up US$12.50 to US$1,957.00 per ounce in Comex electronic trade.
The rise in the price of the metal, which earlier this week reached US$2,000 per ounce in electronic trade, comes as central banks pump new money into their economies and slash interest rates to near or at zero percent to ensure liquidity and support businesses during the pandemic, increasing gold's appeal as a safe haven and an inflation hedge while low interest rates cut the cost of owning the metal.
"Gold is the currency of last resort, particularly in an environment like the current one where governments are debasing their fiat currencies and pushing real interest rates to all-time lows," Goldman Sachs said in a Tuesday research report.
The Federal Reserve will issue its latest monetary policy guidance later on Wednesday, with no change in its outlook expected.
"Fed Chair Powell is likely to provide a dovish outlook at the virtual press conference after the meeting. He may also comment on plans to anchor long-term interest rates at a low level by adjusting the forward guidance and possibly conducting yield curve control. This would cement the negative real interest rates, in which case new record highs for gold and an increase above $2,000 per troy ounce would only be a question of time," Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said in a research note.
The U.S. dollar weakened, making gold more affordable for international buyers. The ICE dollar index was last seen down 0.18 to 93.51 points, the lowest in more than two years.