There are a variety of factors which affect the price of gold for the day.  Of course there is the supply and demand factor but there are also other factors. The spot price is usually used for transactions that call for immediate physical delivery of gold and not for other types of contracts such as those that are involved in gold futures contracts.  They use a different method of coming into the actual value of gold for a specific future date and which adds more factors into play such as gains and other interests that may affect the future interests of the buyer or seller.  There is also the expectations of the future performance of gold in the future which will determine the value for gold at that particular date.

The spot price is affected by the supply and demand for the metal such as the worldwide hoarding of the gold due to their ever-increasing value and also as a security for any future economic condition which may diminish the value of their currency.  Gold has always had a value with which it can purchase large commodities unlike the paper currencies which suffer whenever there are changes in economic conditions or wars and other factors.

The spot price of gold is expressed in either the United States dollar, the Euro or the British pound, in which it is usually settled.  The fixing of the spot price for gold is usually done in London with various entities participating.  They meet for an agreement on what the price of gold should be for that particular day and time depending on the performance of gold in the market at that time.  Today, however, the process is usually done through the phone and does not need the physical meetings by these entities.

The spot price of gold has risen greatly for the past few months only which can be a good signal for gold buyers or sellers to do their trade.  Gold has not had this particular performance since the 90’s and will definitely be a good indicator for people to start trading with gold. You can view the historical statistics for gold and other precious metal commodities in the United States at this interesting precious metal commodity spreadsheet. Article Source: Gold Spot Price

You can watch a video that explains what the spot price of gold means below:

Related posts:

1. Gold Price Record Set
2. Price of Gold Increases Above $1500 An Ounce

This comes on news from the Federal Reserve that low interest rates will remain a US policy for an extended period of time. Inflation in the United States has risen at its fastest rate in two and half years.

Precious metals have gained for 10 of the past 11 trading sessions. Investors continue to seek a safe haven for their money, due to rising inflationary pressures. The recent U.S jobless news revealed an unexpected jump further fueling gold’s momentum.

The price of Spot gold rose to an all-time high of $1538.35 an ounce today. The weaker dollar is widely seen as the culprit for rising gold prices. The recent macroeconomic report has fueled speculation that the US’s loose monetary policy will continue to be needed to boost the economy. Michael K. Smith, of T & K Futures and Options recently said, “Bernanke basically said, ‘hey, we are going to let the U.S. dollar just get crushed.”

Silver was also a big winner today, and its low price still makes it a prime candidate for investors. Widely viewed as a poor man’s gold, silver prices jumped to a new record today. Silver’s huge price swing role as 3.4%, as investors flocked to precious metals to capitalize on Silver’s much lower price than gold.

Related posts:

1. Gold Price Per Ounce hits Near Record of $1,150 oz
2. Gold Price Record Set
3. Gold Prices Hit Record High

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is scheduled to speak today, and many hope he will address concerns about rising inflation fears associated with the decision, and the US debt. Ben Bernanke’s meeting with the media is set to begin at 2:15 PM Eastern. Many analysts don’t expect him to say anything but scripted remarks he has previously made in the past.

Gold investors continued this month’s purchasing spree on the news that the Federal Reserve will be slow to raise borrowing costs. Since this news is perceived to further weaken the dollar, many investors are turning to precious metals as a safe haven. The fact believes that by keeping the interest rates at a historic low it will help to stimulate the economy. However, this weakening of the dollar is proving beneficial to Gold rates. Keith Springer the president of Springer financial recently said, “All of this will move gold and silver higher as it will increase inflationary pressures and lower the dollar further.”

In other news Barrick Gold reported a 22% increase in their first-quarter profit. This news was in line with expectations. The company made a surprise bed of  $7.65 billion bid for Equinox Minerals. The founder and chairman of Barrick Gold, ,Peter Munk recently announced to investors during an annual meeting that, ” notwithstanding the company’s bid for copper miner Equinox, Barrick remains firmly committed to being the world’s top gold miner.”

Related posts:

1. Gold Price Per Ounce hits Near Record of $1,150 oz
2. Price of Gold Hit a New Record Today
3. Price of Gold Declines

However, weakness in the US dollar, and Greek debt defaults concerns with the Euro continue to dog the currency markets. Inflation and debt worries continue to push commodity prices upward. Currencies that benefit from higher commodities including the Australian, and Canadian dollar are performing well. Bullish investors of Gold call options have been very active this week.

According to analysts at Capital Economics we can expect to reach $1600 an ounce before the end of the year. Some experts anticipate gold will continue to climb and could even reach $2000 an ounce before 2012.

The main drivers of high gold prices lately are due to slower than anticipated economic growth in the US, Asia and Euro zone, as well as destabilizing events such as the earthquake in Japan and political unrest in the Middle East. Another factor played a part in the rise of Gold is the support for finding an alternative to the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

Jim Steel a precious metals analyst with HSBC recently said, “Any increase in non-US dollar assets would likely be indirectly supportive of gold, especially if it weakened the U.S. dollar’s status as a reserve currency.” Gold futures hit a record for the ninth time so far this month.

Another big winner this week was silver which rose above $45 an ounce for the first time since 1980. This is a 31 year high for silver. It has increased by almost 150% in the last year alone. Gold and silver prices often rise in times of economic upheaval and news of problems with the economy. With debt and inflation concerns being fueled by the S&P’s recent downgrade of the US debt outlook from stable to negative, it looks as if precious metals will continue to climb.

Related posts:

1. Will Gold Hit $1500 an Ounce?
2. Gold Prices Hit $1500 an Ounce
3. Gold Price Per Ounce hits Near Record of $1,150 oz

Gold prices climbed again today

Related posts:

1. Gold Prices Up Today
2. Gold Prices Increase Today
3. Gold Prices Hit $1500 an Ounce

On Tuesday Paris-based International Energy Agency raised alarm by stating “there are real risks that a sustained $100-dollars-a- barrel-plus price environment will prove incompatible with the currently expected pace of economic recovery”. They also warned that recent high oil prices have hurt global demand for energy. In addition the International Monetary Fund warned Monday that high oil prices were a key risk factor to global economic recovery.

In today’s trading Brent crude fell 2.6% to $120.73 and finally settled at $120.94 in the afternoon. Gold fell by 1%, platinum fell 1%, Copper fell 2%, sugar fell 2%, and wheat fell nearly 3%.

Related posts:

1. Price of Gold Hit a New Record Today
2. Gold Prices Climbed Today
3. Gold Price Per Ounce hits Near Record of $1,150 oz

buying gold bullion

Gold speculators and traders have wondered for a while now whether gold will reach $1500 an ounce in the near future. The gold market like other investments doesn’t move in straight lines but rather in waves of up and down activity. This presents a unique opportunity for gold investors to profit on the short term as well as get in at a good price to make some immediate gains. All of this gold trading activity is especially prevalent when there is a lot of volatility in the currency and commodity markets like we are seeing recently.

Here are several of the top reasons we should see gold hit $1500 and ounce and above in the near future.

#1 The declining U.S dollar: As the dollar declines the price of gold has traditionally gone up. Frank Holmes the CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors says, “Gold is attractive as a safe haven when the dollar is declining.” As the U.S deficit continues to grow it puts additional strain on the Dollar as the worlds reserve currency. All of this pressure on the dollar creates a need to seek additional investment opportunity in alternative as investors seek out other currencies and markets to put their money in.

#2 Inflation: The price of goods services and the continual rise of these prices, coupled with the increasing price of oil and other commodities has a tendency to drive people toward investing in gold. Putting money in gold has is typically seen as a safe place to invest money when there is an inflationary environment. Russ Winter of the financial blog Minyanville believes, “if the Fed keeps buying $100 billion of Treasuries until July 1, you can calculate that each $100 billion will push the commodity index up another 5% and the price of oil $7.00 a barrel.

#3 Increase in Oil Prices: when oil producing nations begin reaping record profits they often invest their excess capital in gold. With the general consensus believing that oil prices will continue to go up the outlook for continually increasing gold prices looks optimistic. Frank Holmes has believes that oil and gold have an approximate 75% correlation to each other. “This means that 3/4 times, when prices for one go up, prices for the other increase as well,” Holmes writes.

The general consensus is that  the price of gold and oil are very likely to continue going up through the final months of “quantitative easing” QE2. Gold prices should continue to follow closely with other commodity prices. As geopolitical events continue to unfold in the Middle East precious metals should benefit.

Related posts:

1. Price of Gold Increases Above $1500 An Ounce
2. Gold Prices Hit $1500 an Ounce
3. Price of Gold Slid 1 Percent Today

Investors are eagerly waiting for Ben Bernanke the Federal Reserve Chairman to deliver his address on future monetary policy goals today in Boston. If the dollar goes lower on troubling news the price of gold could be supported. Afshin Nabavi the vice president at MKS Finance SA recently said, “The dollar for the time being may go lower” and that will support gold.”

Gold has gained 26 percent this year and is going into the tenth annual year of gains. This is the longest time of increase for gold since the 1920′s. As world economies continue to spend trillions of dollars to dig their way out of weakened economies and stimulate growth metals continue to rally. Speculation that the FED will further increase spending is causing the outlook of the dollar to diminish.

A recent survey by Bloomberg found that 15 out f 19 traders, analysts, and investors, or 79 percent believe gold will continue to gain next week. Three predicted lower gold prices and one was believed gold prices would remain the same.

Update# Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said today that there was a case for further monetary easing given low inflation and high unemployment, but he offered no details on the central bank’s next step. At the Boston conference today Bernanke remarked, “There would appear — all else being equal — to be a case for further action.” The Fed will it’s next policy setting meeting in November.

Related posts:

1. Price of Gold Hit a New Record Today
2. Price of Gold Rebounds
3. Price of Gold Increases Above $1500 An Ounce

Gold continues to be thought of as a safe-haven asset against a continually weakening U.S. dollar. Bullish gold investors are looking at $1400 an ounce as the next resistence area as the dollar continues to remain weak.

Further presure on the dollar is likely to remain as long as the Federal Reserve continues hinting that they will announce additional stimulus spending and monetary easing in November during its next policy setting meeting. Gold prices have risen over 5% in October and many gold speculators are saying FED policy could drive the price above $1420 by next month.

Suki Cooper an analyst for Barclays Capital recently added, “For now, short-term investor interest remains supportive for gold prices testing new highs.”

Related posts:

1. Price of Gold Hit a New Record Today
2. Price of Gold Hits Record High
3. Gold Price Per Ounce hits Near Record of $1,150 oz

India’s central bank has just purchased 200 tonnes of gold from the International Monetary Fund. The 6.7 billion dollar purchase surprised the markets and was the biggest single central bank purchase over such a short period over the last 30 years.

The IMF plans to sell about 400 metric tonnes of gold this year in order to increase its finances and increase lending to developing countries.

Related posts:

1. Gold Prices Hit Record High
2. Price of Gold Hit a New Record Today
3. Gold Price Per Ounce hits Near Record of $1,150 oz