Gold prices near record highs; Fed rate-cut bets gain steam

Investing.com -- Gold prices surged to new record levels Monday, as a weak U.S. jobs report strengthened expectations of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve as early as next week.

At 04:55 ET (08:55 GMT), spot gold rose 0.7% to $3,613.77 per ounce, climbing above Friday’s all-time peak of $3,600.03 per ounce, while gold futures for December traded largely unchanged at $3,652.05/oz.

Bullion prices jumped more than 4% last week and have gained for nine sessions out of the last ten. Year-to-date, gold has surged nearly 37% driven by safe-haven demand due to President Donald Trump’s trade policies, and robust central bank demand -- especially from China.

Fed rate-cut bets grow after weak U.S. jobs data

The latest U.S. payrolls release showed a marked slowdown in employment growth and a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.3%, bolstering sentiment that the Fed will deliver an interest rate cut at its September meeting.

Lower interest rates reduce the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like gold and also weaken the dollar, making the metal more appealing to foreign investors.

The US Dollar Index Futures, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, headed further lower Monday after the sharp losses in the wake of Friday’s jobs data.

Market watchers now await the upcoming U.S. inflation report on Thursday, which could further influence Fed policy expectations and gold’s trajectory.

Silver near 14-yr high

Other precious metals tended to head higher Monday, with Platinum Futures trading up 1.6% to $1,410.05/oz, while silver futures gained 0.8% to $41.873 an ounce, around last week’s highest level not seen since August 2011.

Benchmark Copper futures on the London Metal Exchange were up 0.2% to $9,902.00 a ton, while U.S. Copper Futures edged 0.2% higher to $4.56 a pound.

Data from the world’s largest copper importer -- China -- showed that the country’s export growth slowed in August as the momentum sparked by a U.S.-China trade truce faded.

China’s imports also slowed from last month, highlighting persistent sluggish domestic demand.

Ayushman Ojha contributed to this article