WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Gold prices climbed to fresh record high on Wednesday on safe-haven buying ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Investors also digested the latest batch of economic data, and continued to follow the developments on the geopolitical front.
Investors remain apprehensive that proposed tariffs put forward by U.S. Presidential Candidate Donald Trump would lead to a reduction in GDP growth in the U.S., Europe and China.
A Trump victory may be on the horizon in the Nov. 5 presidential election, but most major polls currently show him locked in a tight race with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The dollar index dropped to 103.98, losing more than 0.3%.
Gold futures for November closed up $19.70 or about 0.71% at 2,788.50 an ounce.
Silver futures for November ended down by $0.361 or about 1.05% at $33.914 an ounce, while Copper futures for November dropped to $4.3305 per pound, losing $0.0055 or 0.13%.
In U.S. economic releases today, payroll processor ADP's report showed private sector employment in the U.S. shot up by much more than anticipated in the month of October. ADP said private sector employment surged by 233,000 jobs in October after jumping by an upwardly revised 159,000 jobs in September.
Economists had expected private sector employment to climb by 115,000 jobs compared to the addition of 143,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
However, a separate report released by the Commerce Department showed U.S. economic growth unexpectedly slowed in the third quarter.
The Commerce Department said gross domestic product shot up by 2.8% in the third quarter after surging by 3% in the second quarter. Economists had expected another 3% jump.
A report released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed pending home sales in the U.S. spiked by much more than expected in the month of September. NAR said its pending home sales index soared by 7.4% to 75.8 in September after climbing by 0.6% to 70.6 in August. Economists had expected pending home sales to jump by 1.1%.
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