Gold prices end slightly lower but logged a monthly gain of 6.6%. U.S. stocks higher, S&P 500 notched its 48th record close in the past year. Gold last traded at $1,321 an ounce. Silver at $21.24 an ounce.

Investors are once again flocking to the safety of gold.

Last year the price of gold fell for the first time in over a decade. In 2014, the price of gold is rallying. It is up 11% so far this year and now trading at a 4-month high.

Investors are turning to gold because they have persistent concerns about a slowdown in the U.S. economy (despite Fed denials).

Also boosting demand for gold is weak economic data from China and the new political and economic turmoil in Ukraine.

“In general whether it’s Ukraine, the U.S. economic data or worries about China, there seem to be a lot more reasons than there were six weeks ago for looking at gold,” Nomura analyst Tyler Broda told Reuters.

A surging gold price is scary to some, especially big financial institutions who have large positions in paper assets. Perhaps that is why they have been attempting to manipulate the price of gold, according to a research paper by New York University’s Stern School of Business Professor Rosa Abrantes-Metz and Albert Metz, a managing director at Moody’s Investors Service.

Nevertheless, the free market always wins in the end and the free market is driven by economics. The trouble brewing in the US economy is one driving factor behind the surging price of gold. More evidence emerged today that the economy is not doing so well, despite what Fed Chair Janet Yellen may be telling Congress.

This morning, the federal government cut its figure of U.S. growth in the waning months of 2013, calling into question whether the economy is primed to accelerate in 2014 after years of a sluggish expansion.

The total value of all goods and services produced by the economy, known as gross domestic product, rose 2.4% in the 4th quarter of 2013. Initially the Department of Commerce had reported the U.S. economy grew 3.2%.

The reduced growth figure suggests the U.S. did not enter the new year with as much momentum as previously believed.

The report also casts doubt on whether the U.S. is ready to grow in 2014 at its fastest rate since the recession ended, as many private economists and the Federal Reserve believe.

It also calls into question whether we can trust government economic reports and statistics.

One legitimate activity of the federal government we depend on is common defense. But a new report from the Pentagon’s Cyber Command indicates the US military is ill-prepared to defend America against the growing threat of cyber attacks, against both public and private infrastructure.

This is of concern to investors because the financial system and exchanges are prime targets for such attacks. All the more reason to own assets that don’t only exist in cyberspace. Gold is real. It has value you can tangibly feel.