Gold Heads Closer to $4,000 as US Shutdown Bolsters Haven Demand

Gold clinched a fresh record — pushing closer to $4,000 an ounce — as the US government shutdown added another layer of uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate path before a gathering of policymakers later this month.

Bullion rose as much as 0.4% as markets opened on Tuesday to $3,976.25 an ounce, after gaining 1.9% on Monday. The suspension in federal operations — which began last week — has of key government data needed to assess the health of the US economy, while the US central bank struggles to assess changing conditions. Traders are still pricing in a quarter-point rate cut this month, which would benefit gold further as it doesn’t pay interest.

Gold has soared more than 50% this year in a rally that’s seen successive all-time highs, with prices now on track for the biggest annual gain since 1979. The precious metal has been supported by central-bank buying and increasing holdings in gold-backed exchange-traded funds, as the Fed resumed interest-rate cuts.

Spot gold was little changed at $3,961.33 an ounce at 6:41 a.m. in Singapore. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was down 0.1%. Silver was steady, after gaining as much as 1.6% in the previous session to hit 48.7675 an ounce — about $1 shy of an an all-time high in Bloomberg data going back to 1993. Platinum and palladium rose.