The post Gold hits new highs as safe-haven buying and Fed outlook fuels momentum appeared com. Gold (XAU/USD) is prolonging its uptrend for the fifth straight day and scaling new record highs through the Asian session on Thursday amid global anxieties. Investors remain worried about economic risks stemming from the US government shutdown, US-China trade war, and rising geopolitical tensions, which continue to drive flows towards the traditional safe-haven bullion. Apart from this, dovish Federal Reserve (Fed) expectations turn out to be another factor underpinning demand for the non-yielding yellow metal. In fact, traders now seem to have nearly fully priced in the possibility that the US central bank will lower borrowing costs two more times this year. The outlook drags the US Dollar (USD) to an over one-week low and backs the case for a further near-term appreciating move for the Gold. Meanwhile, the XAU/USD bulls seem unaffected by extremely overbought conditions on short-term charts. This further validates the near-term positive outlook for the commodity ahead of speeches from a slew of influential FOMC members. Daily Digest Market Movers: Gold remains well supported by global flight to safety, dovish Fed, weaker USD The partial federal government shutdown has extended into a third week, with no resolution in sight. The vote on the Republican-backed stopgap funding bill to reopen the government fell short of the votes needed for passage in the Senate for the ninth time on Wednesday. Investors seem worried that a prolonged US government closure would affect the economic performance. A Treasury official said that the shutdown may cost the US economy $15 billion a week in lost output, correcting an earlier statement from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. U. S.-China trade tensions escalated further after both sides imposed tit-for-tat port fees this week. Adding to this, US President Donald Trump said that he was considering terminating the cooking oil trade with China in retaliation to.