Gold Futures Rise to Record $958.40

Gold futures surged to a record $958.40 an ounce as a slumping dollar and soaring commodity costs boosted the appeal of the precious metal as an inflation hedge.
TradingEconomics.com, Bloomberg
2/21/2008 9:50:03 AM

Gold has more than tripled in price during a seven-year rally. The metal jumped 31 percent in 2007 as the Federal Reserve initiated a series of interest-rate cuts aimed at bolstering the economy, while inflation rose at the fastest pace since 1990. Fed policy makers intend to keep rates low ``for a time,'' minutes from their meetings showed yesterday.

Gold futures for April delivery rose $17.70, or 1.9 percent, to $955.50 an ounce at 12:25 p.m. on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The most-active contract topped $950 for the first time in electronic trading overnight.

The deepest housing slump in 25 years and billions of dollars in writedowns related to the collapse of subprime- mortgage debt spurred the Fed in September to begin cutting rates for the first since 2003 to avert a recession.



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