Gold hits record highs as US stocks take continued beating

Good as gold they say, only, this good gold signals huge holes in U.S. stocks.

The market continued falling Monday, as investors weighed Standard & Poor's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating against news of European Central Bank intervention in the distressed bond market.

GlobalPost reports: US stocks move further into the red after opening plunge

But gold and silver prices surged today, the AP reported, reflecting the flight of investment dollars into an asset considered safe haven during volatile times.

Gold prices shot past $1,700 an ounce for the first time on Monday,  the first day of trading after Standard & Poor's on Friday cut the long-term credit rating of the U.S. Gold had hit a record high of $1,663.40 an ounce earlier in the week.

Gold hit a record high of $1,715.29/oz in Asian trading Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Amid some speculation that the price of gold could shoot past $1,800 an ounce, Chad Ramsey, a manager at RamZ's, a Lafayette store that buys and sells items that include jewelry, coins, antiques and collectibles, said he lamented not aquiring more gold when the price was much lower, jconline.com reported.

"I think that all gold and silver will continue to rise," he said. "I could see $2,000 (an ounce). It wouldn't surprise me to see $2,500. We just don't know."

Internationally people have the same idea about gold. T.K. Chandran, managing director of DKTM Jewellery Ltd., in southern India, said: "We had very good business on Saturday and Sunday. Everybody who comes in wants to know whether gold prices will go up more, and they buy as they think that it will," the Wall Street Journal reported.