Gold News & Info

Source:MarketWatch

New York— Gold futures rose Thursday for a fourth straight session, briefly climbing above $920 an ounce after the European Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate to a record low of 1%, raising worries about global inflation. The ECB also said it may offer banks longer-term loans to stem the region's economic recession. Meanwhile, the Bank of England surprisingly increased a bond-purchasing program. Gold for June delivery gained $4.50, or 0.5%, to end at $915.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rallied 1.7% to $926.50 earlier in the session.

Having cut their key rates to close to zero, the Bank of England, U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan are now buying bonds, essentially printing money to reflate their economies in a policy known as quantitative easing. "It is clear now that the ECB has set its sights on boosting inflation," said Brian Kelly, chief executive officer of Kanundrum Research, a commodities and macroeconomic research firm. "The worry in the market is that central bank tools are notoriously blunt instruments," he added. "The central banks are trying to write a book with a can of spray paint. Investors are flocking to the soundness of gold in anticipation of a messy manuscript." See full story.