On Tuesday local time, international gold prices rose to a historic high. On the 17th, the opening continued to rise, with the main contracts for London spot gold and New York Mercantile Exchange gold futures both rising above $2470 per ounce. What are the driving factors behind the rise in gold prices? CNBC's Jiang Yu: As market expectations for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in September continue to rise, a decrease in interest rates typically increases the attractiveness of interest free asset gold. Overnight international gold prices rose to a historic high. Spot gold rose about 1.9% during trading, reaching $2469 per ounce, breaking the high set in May this year. Data from the London Stock Exchange also shows that this is the highest price in history without inflation adjustment since 1968. After the opening of the Asian trading session, spot gold prices fluctuated around this level and showed an upward trend. In terms of futures, gold futures for August delivery rose 1.6% on the 16th local time, closing at $2467.8 per ounce. At one point during trading, it reached a historical high of $2474.5. Since the beginning of this year, the futures have risen by over 19%. The recent slowdown in June inflation data in the United States, coupled with dovish remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Powell, has strengthened the market's bets on the Fed's upcoming interest rate cuts. CME Federal Rate Futures shows that the market has fully digested the expectation of a September Fed rate cut, with a 91.4% chance of betting on a 25 basis point rate cut and an 8.4% chance of even betting on a 50 basis point rate cut. In addition, Ray Dalio, the founder of Overnight Bridgewater Fund, also voiced his support for gold, stating that it can effectively diversify investment risks. Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Fund in the United States: Gold is an effective risk diversification tool, which means that if investors adopt a classic asset portfolio and encounter specific problems, the optimal investment portfolio should allocate more than 10% of gold. However, if we encounter greater internal and external conflicts, gold will be a better asset. However, it is worth noting that the International Monetary Fund issued a warning overnight about the inflation outlook in the United States, stating that service sector inflation remains stubborn and may become an obstacle to reducing inflation. This also reminds the market to carefully consider expectations of interest rate cuts. Pierre Olivier Quresha, Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund: We have seen that the decline in US inflation in the first half of this year has experienced some setbacks, and some potential problems still exist. We expect a rate cut in the second half of this year, but perhaps only once this year and then again next year. Overall, the market generally expects a positive outlook on gold. Precious metal consulting firm Metals Focus predicts that gold prices will reach a historic high this year. Earlier this month, Citibank also stated that it expects gold prices to reach $2700 to $3000 per ounce next year. (New Society)