Gold set an all-time record high, a symptom of broad-based investor concerns about markets and the global economy.
The yellow metal's traditional role is one of a "safe haven," a place where participants turn during times of acute stress in markets. Gold's popularity has grown on the realization that any sustained recovery from the recent worldwide recession will be a long, drawn-out process, with investors now also worried about the potential for defaults by euro-zone nations.
The nearby May gold contract settled $19.50, or 1.6%, higher, at $1,219.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, ...