22 Crew Members Stuck Aboard The Dali—The Ship That Knocked Down Baltimore’s Key Bridge. Here’s What We Know.Gold traded at an all-time high of about $2,223 per ounce Monday, extending its year-to-date gain to 8% and 12-month gain to a blistering 13%, moving in the same direction as the American benchmark stock index S&P 500’s 11% year-to-date and 30% 12-month return.
The gold rush may come as a surprise for American investors, considering the “safe haven” precious metal’s record run-up does not coincide with prior events which sparked all-time highs for gold, such as the late 2000s financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. A key factor behind gold’s rally is things are looking far less bright for many non-U.S. markets: The U.S.’ 2.1%economic growth this year outpaces the sub-1% projected growth of other developed economies like Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom—while stocks listed on large foreign exchanges have largely underperformed their American counterparts, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index losing 16% over the last year and Britain’s FTSE 100 up 8%.
Within the U.S., there are several other explanations for the gold bump, as some investors look for ways to bet against the potential of worse-than-expected inflation, reposition their portfolios following the stock surge and safeguard against geopolitical instability, with issues such as the wars between Israel and Hamas and Russia and Ukraine, along with November’s presidential election looming on the minds of investors.Incoming cuts to interest rates, which will cause yields for U.S.