Gold (GC=F) futures opened at $3,382.40 per ounce on Monday, up 1.4% from Friday’s close of $3,336. In August, the gold futures price has ranged from $3,281 to $3,477.
On Friday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give a policy speech at the annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. Investors will watch closely for clues on Powell’s willingness to cut interest rates at the Fed’s next meeting in September. President Donald Trump has pressured Powell to lower interest rates, but Powell has resisted — arguing that more information is needed to understand how tariffs will impact prices. Economic data in recent months has indicated a slowing labor market and inflation above the Fed’s target of 2%. The latest Producer Price Index also showed a rise in services prices, which are not affected by tariffs.
Falling interest rates can benefit gold since it does not pay interest. However, signs of a slowing economy could also increase gold demand if investors move into safe-haven assets.
The opening price of gold futures on Monday is up 1.4% from Friday’s close of $3,336 per ounce. Monday’s opening price is nearly flat with the opening price of $3,383.90 one week ago on August 11. In the past month, the gold futures price has gained 1.3% compared to the opening price of $3,338.20 on July 18, 2025. In the past year, gold is up 37.9% from the opening price of $2,453.50 on August 16, 2024.
24/7 gold price tracking: Don’t forget you can monitor the current price of gold on Yahoo Finance 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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Investing in gold is a four-step process:
Set your goal
Set an allocation
Choose a form
Consider your investment timeline
The first step to investing in gold is understanding your goals for buying it.
Given gold’s historic behavior, three suitable investing goals for a gold position are:
Diversification into an asset that moves independently from stock prices
Protection against inflation-related loss of purchase power
Backup source of value and wealth in an unlikely economic collapse
Gold has long been part of a balanced portfolio given its ability to hold its value – or even increase further – when the value of other assets is falling. That is why investors utilize gold as a stabilizer. Investors rely on gold’s strength in tough times to limit unrealized losses in equities and inflation-related reductions in purchasing power of cash deposits. That’s exactly what we’re seeing play out now before our eyes.
Gold is also a widely recognized store of value. As such, the precious metal can potentially stand in as a medium of exchange if the dollar collapses.
“I recommend that everyone buy a little gold as a hedge against calamity,” said Scott Travers, author of The Coin Collector’s Survival Manual and editor of “COINage” magazine, in an interview with Bottom Line, Inc. Gold “should be viewed as an insurance policy,” he said.
Learn more: How to invest in gold in four steps
Whether you’re tracking the price of gold since last month or last year, the price-of-gold chart below shows the precious metal’s steady upward climb in value.
Historically, gold has shown extended up cycles and down cycles. The precious metal was in a growth phase from 2009 to 2011. It then trended down, failing to set a new high for nine years.
In those lackluster years for gold, your position will negatively impact your overall investment returns. If that feels problematic, a lower allocation percentage is more appropriate. On the other hand, you may be willing to accept gold’s underperforming years so you can benefit more in the good years. In this case, you can target a higher percentage.
The precious metal has been in the news lately, and many analysts are bullish on gold. In May, Goldman Sachs Research predicted gold would reach $3,700 a troy ounce by year-end 2025. That would equate to a 40% increase for the year, based on gold’s January 2 opening price of $2,633. Rising demand from central banks, along with uncertainty related to changing U.S. tariff policy, are the factors driving the increase.
If you are interested in learning more about gold’s historical value, Yahoo Finance has been tracking the historical price of gold since 2000.
