The price of gold has reached another record high, at $1,421 during trading on 9th November 2010.
This means that gold has risen in value by more than 7% since the Federal Reserve announced plans last week to pump an additional £600bn into the US economy.
The price of gold has risen by around 29% this year alone.
Gold is traditionally seen as a hedge against inflation, and some economists fear that this latest round of quantitative easing in the States will provoke higher price inflation.
Perhaps more significantly, the price of silver has risen to $28/ounce during trading on 9th November, before falling back to $26.72 by mid-afternoon.
Unlike gold, silver has commercial applications in addition to being a perceived store of wealth. As a result, it is largely the commercial demand for silver that drives prices, in addition to demand from investors.
Photo courtesy of BullionVault.
