Gold prices continued their summer rally on Thursday, with spot metal trading above $3,400 an ounce and coming within roughly $15 of an all-time closing high. The gains pushed the SPDR Gold Shares exchange-traded fund toward what would be its highest weekly finish since early June, helped by technical momentum and expectations of seasonally stronger demand in September. Silver kept pace, breaching $39 an ounce for the first time this year. The move lifts the metal’s year-over-year advance to about 34%, outpacing gold since early May. The iShares Silver Trust also broke to a new cycle high as investors added exposure to precious-metal hedges amid persistent economic uncertainty. In equities, Alphabet Inc. shares set another all-time peak near $211, extending a run that has added roughly 50% to the stock since early April. The advance in the Google parent underscores continuing investor appetite for megacap technology names even as commodity prices climb.