Gold record

NEW YORK, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- The price for an ounce of gold reached a record $1,045 as investors, fearful of inflation, turned from a weakening U.S. dollar.

Gold prices have gone up 19 percent in the last year as speculators look for a safe haven for assets during the global economic problems. Even a supposed lightening of those issues hasn't comforted investors enough to keep from driving up the price of gold.

International rumors abound about the health of the U.S. dollar. There have been several calls -- notably from China and Russia but also from U.N. agencies -- that another currency, basket of currency or new made-up currency be used as the world standard rather than the dollar. A denied rumor reported this week by The Independent in the United Kingdom said oil-producing Arab countries also entertained anti-dollar thoughts.

Even if the world powers agreed, such a move would take years to realize.

Still investors work ahead of reality -- often creating it. It takes $1.47 to get one euro and 88 yen to get a dollar.

And it's just not gold that benefits from such dollar weakness; oil prices surge when the dollar falls.