August 10, 2011 in Business

Gold shoots past record $1,800 an ounce

Associated Press

The price of gold surpassed $1,800 an ounce today for the first time as investors pulled their money out of stocks and snapped up precious metals contracts.

Gold is fast becoming a favorite port in a storm of uncertainty. Investors are clinging to what they see as a hedge against volatile stock and currency markets.

Gold for December delivery shot to a record $1,801 an ounce today before backing off those highs to finish at $1,784.30 an ounce.

Gold prices have shot past a series of milestones over the past two years on an uninterrupted climb. Gold was trading at about $900 in the summer of 2008, before the financial crisis unfolded that year. Resulting turmoil in currency and stock markets has burnished gold’s luster.

22 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

hawken on August 10 at 12:59 p.m.
You cannot image how much pleasure it gives me to say, again and again, to liberals: “I told you so.”
There’s more to come! The DOW is down another 500 points with 3 minutes to close the market. “I told you so.”
I’m going to milk this “I told you so” to liberals as much as I can to make my points, which have been proven to be true over the months, while I have been pounded by liberals.
SugarShane on August 10 at 1:02 p.m.
You only get pounded by liberals hawken because you enjoy it.
Wait til Obama gets reelected, then I’ll give you an I told you so.
I can only imagine this will make things much worse in DRC. 5 million dead, more to come.
hawken on August 10 at 1:14 p.m.
I get pounded by liberals because I totally reject there mystical, Utopian world view of an American Socialist Democracy.
One need only look to Europe to see the abysmal failure, the total failure of the European, Socialist Democracies.
Obama and Senate liberals are a “European, Socialist, Democrat”,,,, “wanna be.”
We are American, heart and soul. Not a bunch of European Socialist Democrats. If we put Obama and the European, liberal left back in office in 2012, I will be the first to concede that I was wrong and your are right.
I have more faith in the roots of America.
Hiker on August 10 at 1:16 p.m.
I’d love to see the US Treasury announce plans to sell $25-50 billion of its gold stash to reduce the deficit. The gold bubble would pop in one day.
maria on August 10 at 1:18 p.m.
Yep sqwawken, promises promises. You also said if the NAACP held another march to protest the bomb in Spokane that you would be there. Lol.
maria on August 10 at 1:19 p.m.
Hawken hates it when hell freezes over.
Scoutster on August 10 at 2:33 p.m.
Hawken..
Do you think only conservatives buy gold?
I’ve been bought in since W’s reelection.
I love how you spin your little delusions to think that the price of gold is somehow your doing.
Now, since we are Tea Party nation, I am expecting gold to continue to rise for awhile. I don’t think that BECAUSE I am a liberal/socialist/Marxist//Hawkenlabel whatever.
I believe it cuz the TP has already set in motion the forces that will make this economy worse than the GOP was able to do on their own from ‘01-‘07. Much worse.
RedCedar on August 10 at 3:13 p.m.
Sadly, hiker, $25-50 billion is just spitting in the ocean compared to the kinds of numbers the federal government runs these days. Not that long ago, the Bank of England did exactly as you suggested, and the price of gold did drop. If memory serves, it was around $300. Of course the price of gold was already pretty low and there was no global financial crisis so there was no great demand for it. Basically the Chancellor of the Exchequer just decided it was time to clear out that barbarous old relic. I bet they wish they hadn’t sold it now.
I’m still waiting for the alleged gold bubble to burst. Unfortunately the two richest up-and-coming parts of the world, China and Arabia, have a tradition of hoarding gold that goes back many thousand of years.
lowtechmaster on August 10 at 3:14 p.m.
The rich get richer! Hiker has a GREAT idea!!
RedCedar on August 10 at 3:27 p.m.
Been to the grocery store lately? While some people are worrying about how they’re going to be able to afford gold, most of us will be worrying about how to afford food.
dataxman on August 10 at 3:34 p.m.
hiker - we are running annual deficits of $1.6 trillion, so that size of a gold sale would not even register a blip. As for dumping gold, the IMF sold 403 metric tons last fall (12,956,751 troy ounces $11 billion then or just over $23 billion now) and the countries that bought the gold have now doubled their money.
Gold demand is surging as more and more people with money realize fiat currency is not worth the paper it is written on.
Hiker on August 10 at 4:42 p.m.
dataxman and RedCedar: I realize $25-50 wouldn’t reduce the deficit much.
My point, which wasn’t clear in the original comment, is that gold is just another commodity. It is subject to supply and demand like anything else. If the Treasury sold a significant quantity of gold, the bubble would pop.
I
idahocity on August 10 at 5:15 p.m.
all commodities and things of tangible value are skyrocketing. corn and wheat harvests are going to be down this year and with inflation, excuse me quantitative easing, food is going to get more expensive. if you have extra money invest in food for your family.
The_Seer on August 10 at 6:23 p.m.
Who freakin’ cares. It’s a rock from the ground. Thinking people shouldn’t be rushing to buy gold, they should be contemplating why it has value above and beyond any other rock in the ground.
Humanity really needs to get past the allure of shiny things. Didn’t wampum used to be worth something? Sea shells? Chips of MIca? The whole thing is completely ridiculous.
What’s the Xtian mantra in these cases. Does this one apply: “Lay not up treasures where moth and dust doth corrupt….”
Just sayin’.
tobiasg on August 10 at 7:10 p.m.
We started buying gold after hearing Glenn Beck talk about it, it’s the only safe investment we have now that Obama has destroyed our country with his Kenyanist Economics!
Scoutster on August 10 at 7:16 p.m.
Ohhhhh…is that why Hawken is so hot on gold?…Beck is telling him.
Ok..now I get it
Spokane_Citizen on August 10 at 7:37 p.m.
Hawken…won’t be audibly squawken, when gold (as it always does) returns to its normal state as merely another commodity. He doesn’t like to acknowledge (or he simply doesn’t understand) that if he’d invested in gold over the past 40 years…he’d still have severely underperformed the stock market. Being an ‘armageddon buffoon’, he’ll ‘cherry-pick’ the far and few between gold ‘run-ups’ and ignore the wealth he would have accumulated with a balanced portfolio. Of course, being an internet BS artist, he did neither. Time to clean the shake machine, Hawken, lest your 24 year old boss can your lazy rear.
hawken on August 10 at 8:59 p.m.
Meanwhile Hawken’s total net worth has increase almost 400% since Obama has been elected.
How’s your credit union passbook savings doing?
Interest on your passbook,,,, 1%?
Hawken’s gain almost 400% since Obama elected.
Does anyone recognize a “no brainer?”
I told you so. 10 months ago.
hawken on August 10 at 9:08 p.m.
Sorry,,, I forgot you mention the math:
Your credit union passbook: 1%?
Inflation: 12%
Every month, you become more and more poor, by 10-11% each month. Please, you should send a “Thank You” card to Obama and your government.
Vote Obama 2012!
misjustice on August 10 at 9:09 p.m.
@ Seer, don’t forget Tulip bulbs! The market for Tulip bulbs was crazy in the late 1500s to early 1600s and all manner of hype and salesmanship was used to dupe rubes…and of course the Dutch were trying to corner the market.
Commodities have been manipulated since, well commodities were first traded.
I remember reading about those crazy Texans, the Hunt brothers in the 80s, and how they manipulated, through speculation, the silver market.
Same as it ever was.
Just sayin’…
tobiasg on August 10 at 9:35 p.m.
Hawken, you and I are getting rich off gold, why would we want to change things? I totally adore you but now I’m confused, what am I supposed to believe.
misjustice on August 10 at 9:47 p.m.
^ mandate?