Gold, which yields no income, typically thrives in a low interest rate environment.

Gold prices continued their record rise on Wednesday, holding above the key $3,500 level amid growing investor confidence that the Federal Reserve (the U.S. central bank) will cut interest rates in September.

Spot gold rose about 0.2% to reach $3,540.64 an ounce by 00:54 GMT. U.S. December futures climbed 0.4% to $3,607.60.

Traders currently expect with a 92% probability that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points on September 17, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

Gold, which does not generate income, usually benefits from low interest rates.

The SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 1.32% to 990.56 tonnes on Tuesday, the highest level since August 2022.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Washington needs a “very serious” rate cut.

Trump has criticized the Fed and its chairman Jerome Powell for months over not cutting rates and recently criticized Powell over the costly renovation of the Fed’s headquarters in Washington.

Investors are now looking ahead to the U.S. nonfarm payroll data due on Friday to gauge the expected size of the rate cut.

Nonfarm payrolls for August are expected to have grown by 78,000 jobs, according to a Reuters poll, compared to 73,000 jobs in July.

Adding to market uncertainty and potential trade tensions, the Trump administration said it will ask the Supreme Court for an expedited ruling on tariffs that a U.S. appeals court ruled illegal last week.

Among other precious metals, spot silver fell 0.2% to $40.81 an ounce. Platinum rose 0.6% to $1,412.30, and palladium gained 1% to $1,145.69.