Gold prices rise more than 100 percent since 2008 March 05, 2013
Between 2008 and 2012, the value of gold increased dramatically,
and the Producer Price Index (PPI) for gold ores rose 101.1
percent. |Year||Average annual percent change| After rising 2.6
percent in 2008, the PPI for gold increased 12.8 percent in
2009, as the economic and financial problems of the most recent
recession continued. The Federal Reserve engaged in a policy of
quantitative (or monetary) easing in an effort to inject
liquidity into the U.S. economy, which helped lower the value of
the dollar, one of the main alternatives to gold. As a result of
the economic contraction and monetary easing, many investors put
their money into gold, which increased its value in the weak
economic environment. From September 2010 to September 2011,
gold prices jumped 50.6 percent, mainly the result of
speculation surrounding an uneven recovery and volatility in the
U.S. financial markets, with gold reaching an all-time high of
$1,917.90 per ounce in Aug