Gold prices surged to a fresh record on Monday as investors wait for key inflation data and clues from Federal Reserve officials about the prospect of more rate cuts to come .

Spot gold is now over $3,700 per ounce. So far this year, bullion has notched roughly three dozen record closes, gaining more than 40% as of Friday.

As a safe-haven investment, gold tends to perform well in low-interest-rate environments and during periods of political and financial uncertainty . Investors see gold as protective against "bad economic times," according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

"Gold checks all of those boxes," Sameer Samana, head of global equities and real assets at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, told CNBC earlier this month.

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