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4 smart reasons to invest in gold this May
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It’s never a bad time to review your investments. But at the start of a new month – and against the backdrop of sticky inflation and elevated interest rates – this May is a critical time to do so. One investment that you may not have thought about is gold. Investing in the precious metal hit its highest point in more than a decade last year and the price of the metal has broken numerous records in recent weeks.
That noted, gold doesn’t operate in the same ways that other assets do. And the benefits of the metal will be different than stocks and bonds. But that doesn’t mean that gold can’t still be valuable. It can be — particularly this month. Below, we’ll break down four smart reasons you may want to invest in gold this May.
Start by exploring your top gold investing options here today.
4 smart reasons to invest in gold this May
Here are four reasons why it may be wise to invest in gold this month.
It can help hedge against inflation
Those who were hoping the downward trajectory of inflation that was noted at the end of 2023 would continue unabated in 2024 have been disappointed so far. Inflation ticked up in February and again in March (the April report will be released later this month). So inflation is still a concern for many.
But gold can help hedge against this by maintaining and potentially even growing in value when inflation is high. And, with the prospect of further cooling in the inflation rate unknown, it makes sense to add some precautionary measures to your investment portfolio now. Gold can help make that happen.
Learn more about how gold can help with inflation here.
It can diversify your portfolio
A diversified portfolio is often a successful one. And gold can help provide that diversity. While stocks and bonds can be more volatile and should make up most of your portfolio, gold can help, too. While the latter assets can produce income, gold can help protect it. That said, gold investing should generally be limited to 10% or less of your portfolio to maintain the growth potential of other assets.
The price is rising
The price of gold has surged this year, rising from $2,063.73 per ounce on January 1 to $2,306.10 per ounce today — a 13% rise. But with interest rates again on pause following a Fed announcement this week and inflation still problematic, more investors may pursue the yellow metal, thus causing the price to rise. It makes sense to get invested, then, before the price becomes out of reach. This May is a smart time to do so.
You may be able to turn a quick profit
Gold is not often thought of as an income-producing investment, but with the rapidly rising price so far in 2024, you may be able to turn a quick profit. This will require closely monitoring the price for opportunities to sell, but if you’re looking for an investment that you can buy low and sell high, gold may be the one to pursue this month.
See how much you could potentially make from a gold investment online now.
The bottom line
The timing for any investment type is important to get right and the timing right now favors gold. By investing in gold you can secure a hedge against stubborn inflation and diversify your portfolio in the interim. And with the price rising, it’s beneficial to act promptly. If you do, you may even be able to turn a quick profit — a rarity for an investment better known as a safe haven. As with all financial investments and considerations, however, be sure to carefully weigh the pros and cons of gold against other assets to improve your chances of investing success.
Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves made his professional auto racing debut on Saturday at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“The Matrix” star, who qualified 31st out of 35 cars, ran as high as 21st before a single-car crash a little more than halfway through the 45-minute race briefly stopped him in his tracks.
Darron Cummings / AP
The 60-year-old spun into the grass without a collision on the exit of Turn 9 when he had about 21 minutes of racing left. He re-entered the course and continued driving, signaling he was uninjured.
Reeves finished 25th.
The actor is competing at Indianapolis in the Toyota GR Cup, a Toyota spec-racing series and a support series for this weekend’s Indy 8 Hour sports car event. He has a second race on Sunday.
Darron Cummings / AP
He is driving the No. 92 BRZRKR car, which is promoting his graphic novel “The Book of Elsewhere.” He is teammates with Cody Jones from “Dude Perfect.”
Reeves has previous racing experience as a former participant in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in the celebrity race. Reeves won the event in 2009.
A passenger successfully landed a small plane on Friday after the pilot had a medical emergency, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The twin-engine Beechcraft King Air 90 was traveling from Henderson Executive Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada to Monterey Regional Airport in California, with a pilot and one other person on board, the FAA said.
The pilot suffered an unspecified medical emergency while flying, the FAA said, forcing the passenger to take the controls and make an emergency landing at Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, California.
The Kern Fire Department told CBS News affiliate KBAX that firefighters were called to a report of a medical emergency on the plane. The pilot was reported to be “incapacitated,” the fire department said. Firefighters saw the plane approach and land safely, then “chased” the plane down the runway in emergency vehicles to meet it.
The FAA did not release the passenger or pilot’s identities nor give an update on the pilot’s condition. The pilot was taken to an area hospital by ambulance. The passenger did not report any injuries.
The FAA and the National Transportation Security Board will investigate the incident, the FAA said.
Congolese authorities began vaccination against mpox on Saturday, nearly two months after the disease outbreak that spread from Congo to several African countries and beyond was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization.
The 265,000 doses donated to Congo by the European Union and the U.S. were rolled out in the eastern city of Goma in North Kivu province, where hospitals and health workers have been overstretched, struggling to contain the new and possibly more infectious strain of mpox.
Congo, with about 30,000 suspected mpox cases and 859 deaths, accounts for more than 80% of all the cases and 99% of all the deaths reported in Africa this year. All of the Central African nation’s 26 provinces have recorded mpox cases. Officials in Congo previously told CBS News that they’ve struggled to diagnose patients and provide basic care in the vast country of 100 million people, where a fragile, under-resourced healthcare system is also burdened by the stigma associated with the virus.
Although most mpox infections and deaths recorded in Congo are in children under age 15, the doses being administered are only meant for adults and will be given to at-risk populations and front-line workers, Health Minister Roger Kamba said this week.
“Strategies have been put in place by the services in order to vaccinate all targeted personnel,” Muboyayi ChikayaI, the minister’s chief of staff, said as he kicked off the vaccination.
Moses Sawasawa / AP
At least 3 million doses of the vaccine approved for use in children are expected from Japan in the coming days, Kamba said.
Mpox, also known as monkeypox, had been spreading mostly undetected for years in Africa before the disease prompted the 2022 global outbreak that saw wealthy countries quickly respond with vaccines from their stockpiles while Africa received only a few doses despite pleas from its governments.
However, unlike the global outbreak in 2022 that was overwhelmingly focused on gay and bisexual men, mpox in Africa is now being spread via sexual transmission as well as through close contact among children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups, Dr. Dimie Ogoina, the chair of WHO’s mpox emergency committee, recently told reporters.
More than 34,000 suspected cases and 866 deaths from the virus have been recorded across 16 countries in Africa this year. That is a 200% increase compared to the same period last year, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
A lack of diagnostic materials and basic medicines to treat the virus, which can improve survival rates, have also hampered efforts to contain the outbreak, and access to vaccines remains a challenge.
Moses Sawasawa / AP
The continent of 1.4 billion people has only secured a commitment for 5.9 million doses of mpox vaccines, expected to be available from October through December, Dr. Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa CDC, told reporters last week. Congo remains a priority, he said.
At the vaccination drive in Goma, Dr Jean Bruno Kibunda, the WHO representative, warned that North Kivu province is at a risk of a major outbreak due to the “promiscuity observed in the camps” for displaced people, as one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis caused by armed violence unfolds there.
The news of the vaccination program brought relief to many in Congo, especially in hospitals that had been struggling to manage the outbreak. Doctors with several charities working in the country have told CBS News they’re overstretched and short on supplies, even having to use tents and mattresses on the floor of makeshift isolation wards to treat a constant influx of patients.
“If everyone could be vaccinated, it would be even better to stop the spread of the disease,” said Dr. Musole Mulambamunva Robert, the medical director of Kavumu Hospital, one of the mpox treatment centers in eastern Congo.
Eastern Congo has been beset by conflict for years, with more than 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich area near the border with Rwanda. Some have been accused of carrying out mass killings.
