Celia Hatton

That's 68% higher than the price at this time last year.

And that's the biggest annual increase since 1979.

So that gives you an idea of just where gold has been going this year.

And there's a lot behind it.

There are immediate factors and there are longer term factors.

So the immediate factors, gold's price tends to rise.

People move into gold when other assets like shares and bonds aren't performing well or aren't likely to perform well.

And that's part of the context here.

The United States has just cut interest rates.

Further cuts are expected next year.

That reduces the comparative disadvantage over gold, which obviously doesn't pay you a return.

There's wider economic pessimism, which the interest rate cuts are linked to, which suggests that companies won't be making such good profits in the coming months and therefore returns on shares won't be as strong.

And of course, there's all the geopolitical uncertainty that we've got at the moment.

Most recently, the blockade on Venezuela, but also the conflict in Ukraine, the ongoing rivalry between the US and China.

uncertainty over US trade policy.

I could go on.

But times of uncertainty, gold is seen as a solid and stable asset.

You can hold it.

You can put it in your vaults.

Its value doesn't tend to decline long term.