--- title: Gold Prices Surge to a New Record High as Stocks Struggle description: Gold prices hit an all-time high August 2 amid a weak jobs report, slumping stocks and renewed conflict between Israel and Iran. authors: - name: Jordan Chussler role: Editor, Investing and Banking url: https://money.com/author/jordan-chussler/ bio: Jordan is an investment editor and CPFC who specializes in traditional equities, gold and other precious metals, retirement savings and income investing. He combines his personal and professional interests in finance and education to help readers increase their financial literacy and make better investment choices. education: Lynn University certifications: Certified Personal Finance Counselor at_money_since: 2023 articles: 131 covers: - Investing - Banking - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement also_seen_in: - Weiss Ratings - 24/7 Wall Street - Better Investing - Yahoo Finance - Nasdaq - Investing.com - Marketbeat - MSN Money social: - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-chussler-b3597811/ editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2024-08-02T17:46:13.000Z' modified: '2024-10-28T20:29:21.000Z' section: Investing tags: - News word_count: 510 canonical: https://money.com/gold-prices-record-high-stocks-struggle/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo collage of gold bars in an ascending graph with stock lines in the background](https://img.money.com/2024/08/News-Gold-Prices-Soar.jpg) Presented by: ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/25986/2c76d731-1061-4ab9-8e2e-2b3babd3d37e.png) American Hartford Gold can help you safeguard your retirement with a Gold IRA. [Go to AmericanHartfordGold.com](https://money.com/pr/r4e91d61d8dc?ap_referrer=%2Fgold-prices-record-high-stocks-struggle%2F) The price of gold has surged to an all-time high amid the stock market's ongoing pullback, a disappointing jobs report and rising tensions in the Middle East. The precious metal set a new record when it hit $2,474 per troy ounce Friday morning on the back of weak employment data, a weeks-long selloff afflicting the major market indices and renewed rhetoric between Israel and Iran. Gold prices have posted a year-to-date gain of 21%, compared to 12% for the [S&P 500](https://money.com/what-is-the-sp-500-index/). ## Why gold prices are rising to record highs According to the [U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm), the unemployment rate hit 4.3% in July, the highest reading since October 2021. Additionally, only 114,000 non-farm jobs were added. This has fueled speculation about the Federal Reserve's inability to accomplish a soft landing in its quest to lower inflation while keeping the economy strong. But with the likelihood of September interest rate cut at 100%, according to the CME Group's [FedWatch Tool](https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html), gold prices — which tend to strengthen alongside lower interest rates — have benefited. At the same time, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq continued their descent despite tech companies reporting strong second-quarter earnings and revenues. The S&P is down -6.02% since July 16, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has fallen -10.78% since July 10. Meanwhile, gold is up around 6% since July 1. [Precious metals](https://money.com/investing-in-precious-metals/) in general and gold in particular often exhibit negative correlations with stocks and other asset classes that experience more price volatility. Generally speaking, when stock prices fall, gold prices tend to rise. Another factor propelling the [price of gold](https://money.com/what-drives-the-price-of-gold/) is renewed conflict in the Middle East. On July 27, Israel blamed Iran-backed Hezbollah after a rocket attack in the Golan Heights killed 12 children. Israel retaliated on July 30 with strikes inside Beirut and Tehran, that latter of which killed Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh. Geopolitical unrest tends to be a positive driver for the price of gold, as it's viewed as a price-stable and a store of value. ## Should you invest in gold? Gold has historically been used to mitigate overall portfolio risk as a safe-haven asset. And while owning the physical metal may not be ideal for retail investors, there are numerous ways to [invest in gold](https://money.com/how-to-invest-in-gold/) and other [precious metals](https://money.com/investing-in-precious-metals/). The most common approaches to doing so are through gold miner stocks and [gold exchange-traded funds](https://money.com/best-gold-etfs/), which offer alternative exposure to the metal without having to maintain ownership of gold itself. However, over-allocating to gold is not recommended. The precious metal has [underperformed stocks](https://money.com/gold-vs-stocks-better-investment-2024/#:~:text=Stocks%20have%20generally%20performed%20better,has%20outperformed%20the%20S%26P%20500.) in the long run. Over the past five years, gold has gained 68.67% while the S&P 500 has returned 81%. It is generally advisable to invest no more than 10% of a portfolio in the alternative asset such as gold. Additionally, when investors buy any asset at or near record highs, short-term losses are not uncommon. ## American Hartford Gold can help protect your financial future ### Trust American Hartford Gold to help protect against market volatility and inflation. Get started by clicking below. [SEE DETAILS](https://money.com/pr/m04e6ab852d9?ap_referrer=%2Fgold-prices-record-high-stocks-struggle%2F) Terms and conditions apply. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/gold-prices-record-high-stocks-struggle/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Investing", "item": "https://money.com/investing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Gold", "item": "https://money.com/gold/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Gold Prices Surge to a New Record High as Stocks Struggle" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/gold-prices-record-high-stocks-struggle/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/gold-prices-record-high-stocks-struggle/", "name": "Gold Prices Surge to a New Record High as Stocks Struggle", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-08-02T17:46:13.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/gold-prices-record-high-stocks-struggle/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/gold-prices-record-high-stocks-struggle/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-10-28T20:29:21.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Gold Prices Surge to a New Record High as Stocks Struggle", "articleSection": "Investing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/08/News-Gold-Prices-Soar.jpg", "width": 2154, "height": 1436, "caption": "News-Gold-Prices-Soar" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jordan Chussler", "url": "https://money.com/author/jordan-chussler/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/jordan-chussler/#author", "description": "Jordan is an investment editor and CPFC who specializes in traditional equities, gold and other precious metals, retirement savings and income investing. 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