Metals Prices Touch Fresh Peaks --- Gold Settles at a Record While Silver Ends at 30-Year High
NEW YORK -- Gold set a record and silver reached a 30-year high Monday as inflation concerns and a weakening euro gave precious metals extra shine.</br></br>Front-month December gold futures settled up $9.90, or 0.7%, at $1,415.30 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. December silver futures rose 46.40 cents, or 1.6%, to $29.705 an ounce.</br></br>Investors rushed into both markets following Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernake's comments to CBS's "60 Minutes" Sunday, when he said the Fed might increase its $600 billion stimulus effort if necessary to prevent the economy from lapsing into a second recession.</br></br>The program, announced in early November, caused the dollar's value to fall and sparked investor concern about inflation. Both factors helped gold prices rally to record highs, with silver following on the way up.</br></br>Gold is often viewed as a store of value and an inflation hedge, as well as an alternative currency.