logo-loader

Gold futures gain again as Federal Reserve vows more stimulus

Published: 11:48 14 Sep 2012 EDT

no_picture_pai

Gold futures rose slightly Friday, a day after the yellow metal contract soared to its best in nearly seven months after the Federal Reserve vowed another round of stimulus. 

On Thursday, gold for December delivery rose $38.40, or 2.2%, to settle at $1,772.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. 

Today, the metal was lately up by $4.10 to $1,776.20 an ounce. 

The Fed said Thursday it will buy $40 billion of mortage-backed bonds each month, leaving the length of the program open-ended. The Fed also said low interest rate will be warranted through at least the middle of 2015, extending the date from 2014.

The central bank said it will keep "Operation Twist" in place, which consists of swapping short-dated securities for longer-term securities, as well as reinvesting the proceeds of maturing securities, so the central bank will be adding $85 billion of long-term securities each month through the end of the year. 

In a press conference, Bernanke said the goal of this third round of stimulus was to "help Main Street" and get the U.S. job market going. He added this latest round of stimulus would also help mortgage rates and "was aware" that savers have been hurt by the rounds of quantitative easing, which were designed to "help the economy."

The news of the bond-buying program provided a boost for gold, which benefits from fears of currency debasement and is seen as a safe haven. 

The dollar also extended losses on Friday, providing another boost to the metal.

BenevolentAI advances novel ulcerative colitis treatment through Phase 1a trial

BenevolentAI (OTC:BAIVF) chief scientific officer Dr Anne Phelan joins Proactive's Stephen Gunnion with positive safety data from the Phase 1a, first-in-human, clinical study of BEN-8744 in healthy volunteers. Phelan explained that BEN-8744 is a potent, selective PD10 inhibitor, uniquely...

40 minutes ago