Gold futures rise to record highs

WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) – Gold prices rose to record highs Friday morning as confidence grows that the Federal Reserve will announce more rate cuts in the coming months.

Rising tensions in the Middle East are also contributing to the rise of the yellow metal. Reports say Israel has launched major attacks on Lebanon. Israel said warplanes hit hundreds of rocket launchers.

Meanwhile, Bulgarian authorities have said that a Sofia-based company had nothing to do with the supply of exploding communications equipment to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, according to a report by Agence Frane-Presse.

Earlier this week, dozens of pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in Lebanon, killing several people and injuring nearly 3,000.

A stronger dollar is limiting the safe-have metal’s upside. The dollar index rose 0.25, or about 0.23%, to 100.86.

Gold prices rose above $2,600 an ounce for the first time. Gold futures for December rose to $2,640.45 an ounce, a gain of more than 1%.

Gold futures for October are trading at $2,613.60 an ounce, a gain of $22.70 or about 0.88%.

Silver futures for December rose $0.167 or 0.53% to $31.590 an ounce, while copper futures for December rose $0.0040 to $4.3510 a pound.

The Fed cut interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday. Central bank officials also forecast continued rate cuts in the coming months and next year, raising optimism that the central bank can engineer a soft landing for the economy.

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