Gold hits one-week high on Fed rate-cut bets, Venezuela turmoil

Gold rose further on Tuesday to hit a one-week high, as dovish comments from Federal Reserve officials boosted interest rate-cut bets and Venezuela tensions bolstered safe-haven demand.
Spot gold was up 0.5% at $4,469.96 per ounce, as of 0534 GMT, after rising nearly 3% in the last session. Bullion hit a record high of $4,549.71 on December 26, and logged its best annual performance since 1979 last year with a jump of 64%.

U.S. gold futures for February delivery rose 0.7% to $4,481.30.
“(Comments by Fed officials) certainly didn’t hurt but it doesn’t look like the calculus has changed all that much. We of course have a big week this week with the jobs report on Friday,” said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Monday inflation was slowly easing, but there was a risk the jobless rate could “pop” higher, increasing the likelihood of a rate cut.
Investors currently expect at least two rate cuts this year, while they look to the nonfarm payroll report, due on Friday, for more monetary policy cues.