Gold stood at $4,587 per ounce at 9:15 a.m. Eastern Time, up $115, or 2.57%, from the same time a day earlier and $3,344, or 37.17%, from a year ago. It was also 13.15% above its price one month earlier. Gold is widely used as a store of value, portfolio diversifier and potential inflation hedge, although equities outperformed it from 1971 through 2024, with average annual returns of 10.7% versus 7.9% for gold. Investors can gain exposure through physical bullion, coins, jewelry, futures, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and gold IRAs. Spot gold reflects the immediate over-the-counter price, while the bid-ask spread indicates trading liquidity; futures prices above or below spot are known as contango or backwardation, respectively.