By Brijesh Patel
(Reuters) – Gold sailed past $3,500 per ounce to a record high on Tuesday, as a weaker dollar and mounting expectations of a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut in September boosted the precious metal’s appeal.
Spot gold was up 0.3% at $3,487.55 per ounce as of 0633 GMT, after hitting a record high of $3,508.50 earlier in the session. Bullion has gained 32% so far this year.
U.S. gold futures for December delivery gained 1.2% to $3,557.80.
“A corollary of the weaker economic backdrop and expectations of U.S. rate cuts is boosting precious metals,” Capital.com financial market analyst Kyle Rodda said.
“Another factor is the festering confidence crisis in dollar assets because of U.S. President Donald Trump’s attack on Fed’s independence.”
Trump has criticised the Fed and its chair, Jerome Powell, for months for not lowering rates, and recently took aim at Powell over a costly renovation of the central bank’s Washington headquarters.
On Monday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Fed is and should be independent but added that it had “made a lot of mistakes” and defended Trump’s right to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud.
Traders are currently pricing in a 90% chance of a 25-basis-point Fed rate cut on September 17, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Non-yielding gold typically performs well in a low-interest-rate environment.
Rate-cut expectations and worries over the Fed’s independence have weighed on the U.S. dollar, which is languishing near a more than one-month low against its rivals, making gold less expensive for overseas buyers. [USD/]
Long regarded as a dependable hedge against geopolitical and economic turmoil, gold has rallied to multiple record highs in 2025, drawing support from ongoing central bank buying amid a move away from the U.S. dollar, strong safe-haven demand in light of geopolitical and trade uncertainty, plus broad dollar weakness, analysts say.
Spot gold prices rose 27% in 2024, and broke the $3,000 per ounce level for the first time in March this year as uncertainty around Trump’s trade policies sent investors flocking to the safe-haven asset.
“Gold’s rally could extend to $3,600 and even beyond by year-end if the Fed follows through with multiple rate cuts and if a Russia-Ukraine peace deal remains elusive,” KCM Trade chief market analyst Tim Waterer said.
Investors are now looking forward to the U.S. nonfarm payrolls data due on Friday to determine the size of an expected Fed rate cut later this month.
Spot silver was little changed at $40.64 per ounce, after hitting its highest since September 2011 in the previous session.
Platinum gained 1% to $1,412.95 and palladium fell 0.7% to $1,129.52.
(Reporting by Brijesh Patel, Kavya Balaraman and Anushree Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy, Veronica Brown, Subhranshu Sahu and Rashmi Aich)
