The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Sept. 6, edition that this year's gold rally has been fuelled by war, inflation, erratic U.S. trade policies and Donald Trump's criticism of the Federal Reserve. The Globe's David Berman writes that the next phase of the rally, however, may rely more on traditional factors like anticipated Fed rate cuts and a weaker U.S. dollar. Gold surged in August to become the best-performing U.S. asset class, as noted by Bank of America analyst Savita Subramanian. The price rose 4 per cent last month, reaching a high of $3,650, surpassing investment-grade corporate bonds, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index. Mr. Berman notes that the S&P/TSX Composite Index did a little better than bullion in August, rising 4.8 per cent. Canada's benchmark rose over the past month, driven by top performers like Kinross Gold, Barrick Mining and Agnico Eagle Mines, which saw substantial gains. Toronto-listed gold producers added 572 points to the index, according to RBC analyst Bish Koziol. The contribution was greater than that of banks, despite the five largest gold companies in the index being less than half the size of the five largest banks in terms of their combined share value.