Gold leapt to $1,038 an ounce today, the highest price on record, as investors bet that global stimulus efforts and rate cuts will cause rampant and widespread inflation. The precious metal’s on pace for its ninth straight positive year; the previous record was set at $1,033.90 in March 2008.
“Gold is acting like the ultimate currency,” one market watcher told Bloomberg. “Central banks are following the same monetary course and trying to stimulate and inflate their way back to growth. Everyone’s concerned about the dollar, but it’s not like you can hate the dollar and fall in love with the euro or yen.” (More gold stories.)