The price of gold stayed around $3,860 per ounce on Friday, moving toward its seventh straight week of gains. Earlier this week, gold reached a new record high of $3,897 per ounce.
The rise is mainly because investors are looking for safety. In the United States, the government is partly shut down, putting thousands of jobs at risk and delaying important economic reports.
This uncertainty is pushing many investors to buy gold, which is seen as a safe place to keep value in difficult times.
At the same time, recent reports show that the U.S. job market is slowing. A private survey (ADP) showed companies hired fewer workers for the second month in a row. Another report showed fewer people leaving their jobs, and companies are also hiring less.
This has led many to believe that the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve, may cut interest rates further to support the economy. Lower interest rates usually make gold more attractive.
Still, not all officials at the Fed agree. One senior official warned that cutting rates too quickly could worsen inflation, and that reminder briefly slowed gold’s rise on Thursday.
In the past month alone, gold prices have risen by almost 9%, and compared to the same time last year, they are up by more than 45%.
