Gold remains strong ahead of unemployment report

Gold (GC=F) futures opened at $3,602 per ounce on Friday, up 1% from Thursday’s close of $3,565.80. The price of gold has remained above $3,500 since September 2.

Investors are nearly certain the Fed will cut interest rates later this month. CME FedWatch predicts a 97.6% chance the fed funds rate will drop by 25 basis points. On August 29, the probability of a rate reduction was 86.4%. The latest weekly jobless claims report, released Thursday, supports the case for lower interest rates — seasonally adjusted initial claims rose by 8,000 to 237,000, and the four-week moving average is up to 231,000 from 228,500. The August unemployment report is due later today.

The potential for lower interest rates is fueling optimism for stocks, but it’s also good for gold prices. When interest rates are low, gold looks more attractive compared to interest-bearing assets like cash.

The opening price of gold futures on Friday is up 1% from Thursday’s close of $3,565.80 per ounce. Friday’s opening price is up 4.9% from the opening price of $3,432.50 one week ago on August 29. In the past month, the gold futures price has increased 6.6% compared to the opening price of $3,378.50 on August 5, 2025. In the past year, gold is up 44.4% from the opening price of $2,493.70 on September 5, 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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The next time you shop Costco (COST), you may want to pick up some gold with that rotisserie chicken. Gold prices have been on a run lately, and what more convenient place can you find to buy a commodity?

In fact, the club store sells gold bars, silver coins, and platinum bars — three precious metals that many investors use to diversify their wealth.

The club store first offered gold bars in 2023, then added silver (SI=F) and platinum over the next year or so. Meanwhile, gold is hanging around its all-time high. Gold, silver, and platinum are all up significantly so far in 2025.

Intrigued by Costco’s precious metals offering? Read more here to learn key considerations for precious metals investing, the details of the Costco selection, and tips for managing your new investment.

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.