At 01:24 AM (Lisbon time), the price of gold reached a new peak of $3,546.96 (€3,047.87) per ounce (equivalent to 31.1 grams), as reported by financial news agencies.
Silver has also been trading at new highs, coming very close to $41 (€35.19) per ounce early this morning.
Experts explain that the prices of precious metals are being driven by growing expectations of an interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), which is set to meet on September 16 and 17.
Analysts also point to the weakness of the U.S. dollar, alongside high macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility, including the independence concerns of the Fed itself.
The U.S. judiciary has yet to comment on the fate of Lisa Cook, a governor of the U.S. central bank, whom President Donald Trump wants to dismiss, thus threatening the institution’s independence.
Trump’s decision follows repeated attacks on the Fed’s Chairman Jerome Powell and other members of the monetary policy committee for not cutting the benchmark interest rate.
With the U.S. economy in trouble, the market nonetheless expects a 0.25 percentage point cut at the upcoming Fed meeting on September 16 and 17.
This expectation weakens the dollar and bond yields, which are also considered safe havens.
A U.S. federal appeals court ruled on Friday that much of the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump on imports are illegal.
This announcement benefits gold because “it introduced a new dose of market uncertainty, which can only be resolved by a future Supreme Court decision,” said Russ Mould, an investment analyst at AJ Bell, on Tuesday.
If confirmed, such a decision could benefit U.S. assets in the long term. However, in the short term, it leads many companies to hesitate in investing.
The price of gold was also “supported by persistent inflation” in the United States in August, added Ole Hansen, an analyst at Saxo Bank, on Tuesday.
Since the beginning of the year, the value of gold has increased by about one-third, amid geopolitical uncertainties due to wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and commercial tensions stemming from the tariff war launched by Trump.
