A late-day rally in gold exchange traded funds Tuesday carried the precious metals ETFs near fresh record highs as leaders in Washington remained in a stalemate over the U.S. deficit and raising the debt limit.
The roughly $65 billion SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) climbed into green Tuesday while in stocks the Dow was down 100 points heading into the closing bell.
Gold futures were trading around $1,620 an ounce on Tuesday “as time begins to run out for raising the U.S. debt ceiling to avoid default,” said Daniel Wills and Nicholas Brooks at ETF Securities in a weekly update on the precious metals market.
They pointed out that Republican and Democrat lawmakers will need to find a suitable agreement to allow enough time for it to be passed into law by the Aug. 2 deadline.
Last week, Standard & Poor’s said there is a 50-50 chance its triple-A rating on U.S. debt could be cut within three months.
On the debt ceiling, there is speculation “that any deal may leave longer-term spending and tax questions unanswered,” the ETF Securities analysts wrote.