US: Stocks rise as gold hits fresh record
US STOCKS shook off an early slump to close higher on Friday, ending a positive week for the major indices on Wall Street, as gold prices hit a record high.
“We had very big moves over the past two weeks, off the low,” Adam Sarhan of 50 Park Investments told AFP. “And now we are only five per cent below the all time high.”
“That shows us that there is still a lot of demand for stocks at lower prices,” he added.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.2 per cent at 40,659.76, while the broad-based S&P 500 finished 0.2 per cent higher at 5,554.25.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite ended the day 0.2 per cent higher at 17,631.72.
Gold hit a new record on Friday as bullish investors snapped up the haven investment in the face of rising confidence in a September rate cut, weakening the US dollar. Meanwhile, geopolitical risks remained heightened, raising the attractiveness of safe haven assets like gold.
Traders are now looking ahead to Wednesday, when the Federal Reserve will publish the minutes of its most recent interest rate decision.
They will also be closely scrutinising comments from Fed officials around the Jackson Hole meeting of central bankers next weekend, according to Sarhan.
“You have expectations that the Fed is going to cut, the question now becomes how many times they will cut,” he said. “Nobody knows, not even the Fed. It’s data dependent once again.” AFP
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