by Ronan Manly, BullionStar:

One of the standout trends in financial markets this year has been the rapid appreciation in the international gold price to consistent new all-time highs above US$ 2680. Year-to-date, the USD spot price of gold is up 30% at $2681 at the time of writing, with most of this increase occurring over a seven and a half month period since early March after the price broke out of a trading range just above US$ 2000.