Gold prices up nearly 3% to mark highest finish since early November

Gold futures rose by nearly 3% on Monday to start the new year, after putting in the best annual return in a decade, with the move for bullion to its highest finish since November coming as the dollar sank to around a 2 1/2-year nadir. 

“In the short term, expect gold prices to rise because of the economic consequences of the recent aggressive rise of COVID infections, hospitalizations, and deaths as well as the new and apparently highly contagious strain of COVID,” said Ed Moy, former director of the U.S. Mint and chief strategist at gold seller Valaurum. 

“This will likely result in significantly increased economic stimulus in the United States, both monetary and fiscal, which in turn will put downward pressure on the [U.S. dollar] and push gold prices higher,” he said in emailed commentary.