• Gold surges after ECB rate cut and soft US PPI

• Sets new record as Fed poised to join rate-cut club

Gold has finally smashed its previous all-time high of $2,531.61/oz to surpass the $2,550 mark. The precious metal had been poking and prodding at the $2,530 region since late August only to be held back by not-so-terrible US data.

Nothing’s changed when it comes to the US economy to propel gold higher by more than 1.50% today. But after the recent ISM PMIs, jobs report and yesterday’s CPI numbers all pointed to the presence of some persistent inflationary pressures, investors have taken comfort in today’s producer prices.

Both the headline and core PPI rates printed below expectations on an annual basis in August. The misses were mainly due to downward revisions to the prior month’s readings. Nevertheless, with the data arriving shortly after the European Central Bank announced a 25-bps rate cut, investors appear to have become emboldened by the prospect of more rate cuts on the way in the major economies, including by the Fed next week.