MW: Gold looks to extend winning streak, notch new record
Silver posts fresh 30-year high, copper also in record territory
By Claudia Assis and Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures rallied to fresh record intraday levels on Tuesday, poised to extend a six-session winning streak.
Gold for February delivery (GCG11 1,418, +1.60, +0.11%) , the most-active futures contract, gained $12.40, or 0.9%, to $1,428.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
It earlier traded as high as $1,432.50 an ounce.
The contract gained $9.90 Monday to mark a record settlement price of $1,416.10 an ounce on Comex.
Gold futures, as measured by most-active-contract activity, have climbed $66 from their Nov. 26 close of $1,362.40
Adjusted for inflation, today’s gold prices are still well below their January 1980 record, when the metal closed at $650 an ounce.
Gold would have to settle higher than $2,322 to beat the inflation-adjusted high.
“The big worry is that the political powers in Europe and the U.S. are not solving the financial/debt problems adequately and do not seem to be able to sell the harsh cures to their voters that are needed,” said Julian Phillips, an editor at GoldForecaster.com.
The “inability of the [European Union] and the U.S.A. to come to grips with the debt problems is making people turn to gold because it is a respected international money beyond the reach of politicians or bankers,” he said.
Other metals were tracking gold higher on Tuesday. Silver topped $30 an ounce to vie for a fresh 30-year record. March silver (SIH11 3,023, +49.00, +1.65%) added 67 cents, or 2.2%, to $30.39 an ounce.
Silver’s best was also achieved in January 1980, when it traded at more than $50 an ounce.
Copper was also rallying, with the March contract (HGH11 409.00, +8.20, +2.05%) adding 10 cents, or 2.5%, to $4.11 a pound. A close around these levels would be a record high for copper.
Copper trading at the London Metal Exchange hit a record earlier Tuesday, trading at more than $8,970 a metric ton.
A strike in a Chilean mine that lasted more than 30 days has ended. Production at the Collahuasi mine, which accounted for more than 3% of global copper production, was largely maintained with non-union employees and contract workers, “so the end of the strike should have hardly any impact on copper prices,” analysts at Commerzbank said in a note to clients Tuesday.
