Gold prices have been rising over the last couple of weeks and this week posted a new record high of $2,471 an ounce on the futures market. During Tuesday’s trading, spot gold rose 1.8% to nearly $2,466 an ounce.
Gold prices have accelerated because traders have become increasingly convinced that the era of higher interest rates will soon be ending. When rates are higher, investor often choose to park their cash in bonds and CDs that pay a high return.
Now that Wall Street is convinced that the Federal Reserve will cut its federal funds rate at its September meeting more money is moving back into gold. But there may be other factors in play.
The U.S. dollar has weakened in 2024. Though it has recently rallied, the greenback dropped to a five-week low in early July.
In a note late last week, UBS analyst Joni Teves said gold’s pullback during the spring has drawn “by-the-dip” investors back to the market.
How to buy gold
There are a number of ways to buy gold, including investing in ETFs backed by physical gold, using any online trading platform. Share prices move in relation to the price of physical gold.
Buying physical gold is a bit trickier. But some investors buy gold to diversify their portfolios and secure their investments in unpredictable times.
“Gold has been thought of as a store of value for thousands of years, and people still place a lot of value on it today,” said Drew Rathgeber, owner of ProGoldTrader, a gold trading firm in Berlin, Maryland. “Gold's value tends to be more stable over time than the value of other assets like stocks and bonds, which can change a lot.”
The ConsumerAffairs research time has analyzed 25 companies that sell gold and picked the six best here.