Gold returns are competitive compared to major financial assets
Performance metrics for major global financial assets in US$*
Key gold market statistics
18 October, 2018
* 1-year and 10-year returns based on data ending 28 September 2018.
**BarCap US Credit includes both government and high grade corporate bonds.
Source: Bloomberg; World Gold Council
Gold has been correlated to stocks and high-quality bond performance so far this year
Weekly return correlation on key assets and gold in US$*
* Year-to-date (YTD) and 10-year correlations based on weekly returns ending 28 September 2018.
** BarCap US Credit includes both sovereign and corporate bonds.
Source: Bloomberg; World Gold Council
Gold performance should be measured in more than one currency
Annual gold returns in various currencies*
* Based on the LBMA Gold Price PM except for the Long USD Gold Index that is based on the Solactive GLD® Long US$ Gold Index. The Index combines a long position in physical gold with a long position in a basket of currencies that include EUR (57.6%), JPY (13.6%) GBP (11.9%), CAD (9.1%), SEK (4.2%) and CHF (3.6%). For more details see: https://www.solactive.com/complex-indexing/?index=DE000SLA2K90.
** Year-to-date as of 28 September 2018.
Source: Bloomberg; ICE Benchmark Administration; Solactive AG; World Gold Council
Gold trades more than many other major financial asset
Average daily trading volumes in US$*
Based on estimated 1-year average trading volumes as of 28 September 2018, except for currencies that correspond to 2016 volumes due to data availability.
** Gold liquidity includes estimates on over-the-counter (OTC) transactions, and published statistics on futures exchanges, and gold-backed exchange-traded products.
Source: BIS; Bloomberg; German Finance Agency; Japan Securities DealersAssociation; LBMA; UK Debt Management Office (DMO); World Gold Council
Financial gold accounts for more than a third of above- ground gold stocks
Market size (in tonnes and US$ value) for various gold sectors*
* Estimated tonnage as 31 December 2017. US-dollar values calculated using YTD 2017 average LBMA Gold price of US$1,287/oz. Financial gold is defined as the sum of official sector holdings, bars and coins, and ETPs** (73,371 tonnes, US$3tn, 38%).
**ETPs include gold-backed exchange traded funds (ETFs) and similar products.
Source: Bloomberg; GFMS, Thomson Reuters; ICE Benchmark Administration; Respective ETP Providers; World Gold Council
The size of financial physical gold is larger than many stock and bond markets
Market size of major global financial assets in US$*
* As of 28 September 2018 where available, otherwise most recent data published.
** Includes bars, coins, gold-backed exchange-traded products and official sector holdings.
Source: BIS; Bloomberg; GFMS, Thomson Reuters; ICE Benchmark Administration; World Gold Council
