By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com - Gold prices stayed above $1,800 per ounce for a third straight session on Monday as the new wave of coronavirus cases across the world kept up the bid for safe havens.
“Gold should continue to rise higher as the record increases in Covid-19 cases worldwide will likely force U.S. and European leaders into strongly signaling more fiscal stimulus is coming,” said Ed Moya, an analyst at New York-based OANDA.
“If the days of the dollar are numbered, gold prices should have little difficulty in making that run to record high territory before year end,” Moya added, noting that the $840 billion EU recovery fund plan and over $1 trillion in disbursement by the Trump administration should further aid the stimulus trade in gold.
U.S. gold futures for August delivery on Comex settled up $12.20, or 0.7%, at $1,814.10 per ounce. The contract hit $1,829.80 on Wednesday, its highest since September 2011, when it scaled to a record $1,911.60.
Spot gold was up $4.33, or 0.2%, at $1,803.63 by 3:45 PM ET (19:45 GMT). The real-time indicator of bullion prices scaled $1,809.22 earlier on Thursday, a peak since September 2011, when it hit a record high of $1,920.85.
Record high U.S. Covid-19 cases in a day have cast doubts over the pace of economic reopenings from lockdowns, as well as the resumption of school in the fall season. Coronavirus deaths in the United States have started to slowly rise too, following the surge in new caseloads from the middle of June.
In California, one of the new U.S. epicenters in the outbreak, Governor Gavin Newsom shut down all indoor activities, including restaurants, bars and movie theaters in the state on Monday, after the number of deaths related to coronavirus passed 7,000. California is the number one hub for the U.S. tech sector. Newsom’s decision cut a streak of record highs enjoyed in recent weeks by Wall Street’s tech-heavy Nasdaq index, sending the barometer down 2%, its biggest drop in nearly three weeks.