OAN Staff James Meyers
2:12 PM – Friday, October 18, 2024
The price of gold continues to break records. That was the big news in the precious metal industry this week after the price of the precious metal surged past $2,700.
Now at $2,716.64 per ounce, the new price record comes just weeks after gold hit a previous record of around $2,600. That’s after the metal started the year being priced at $2,063.73 per ounce, which is a massive increase in less than a year.
Meanwhile, experts in the industry now expect the price to rise past $3,000, perhaps as soon as this year.
Gold has seen an increase of over 30% this year so far, surpassing record levels, driven by prospects of further Federal Reserve rate cuts after a half percentage point rate cut in September.
“On top of the concerns in the Middle East, you are also nearing the U.S. election, which is looking like a very closely contested election. And that generates a whole host of uncertainty, and gold often is the place to go in times of uncertainty,” Nitesh Shah, commodity strategist at WisdomTree, said.
Gold prices are expected to rise up to “$2,941 a troy ounce” over the next 12 months, according to delegates to the London Bullion Market Association’s annual gathering.
“The LBMA poll that came out from Miami earlier in the week, where the base look for gold prices was to rally near $3,000 in the next year and silver doing even better, I think that potential is also just attracting a bit of attention,” said Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.
Additionally, gold, which brings no interest on its own, tends to gain when interest rates are cut.
The European Central Bank also cut interest rates for the third time this year by quarter-point.
Furthermore, spot silver dropped 0.3% to $31.56 per ounce, while platinum rose 0.1% to $994.00, and palladium gained 1.7% to $1,041.
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