Gold Prices Hold Steady For Another Day

In gold news today, gold prices held steady even though there were some investors and market experts who believed that Americans would start to lose interest in the precious metal–thus, dropping the demand for gold and its price–as economic factors begin to show improvement domestically.  Instead, a variety of factors combined to hold the price of gold steady for another day.  The first factor was a unemployment rate that turned out to be higher than anticipated.  Economists had predicted a decline in unemployment, but an additional 35,000 jobs were lost, probably as the result of post-holiday lay-offs.  Additionally, there had been some concern over European debt, but those worries eased after successful Italian and Spanish bond auctions.  Thus, at the end of the day, gold retained is position as the king of refuge investments, a commodity in which investors feel safe because “it isn’t as linked to industrial production as other assets like oil, copper and equities.”  Those factors and the uncertain economic environment of the last few years, particularly the concern about a collapse of the global economy, has led gold to a string of record prices in the past in the last year.  But for today at least, the price and demand for gold have stabilized because, as George Gero, vice president with RBC Capital Markets Global Futures, claims, “[Investors] seem to be a little more optimistic” this year.  And as the economy continues along its road to recovery, gold investment is sure to fill a prominent role for those who want to start taking risks and grow their portfolios but still need a measure of reassurance.