
Featured Report
As we look forward to 2024, we explore three economic scenarios and their likely impact on gold. Historically, gold has had a flat performance during consensus-favoured ‘soft landings’; however, geopolitical risks, central bank buying and the spectre of a recession may provide additional support for gold.
Outflows from physically-backed gold ETFs totalled US$2bn in October, the fifth consecutive monthly loss. Collective holdings reduced by 37t to 3,245t.
Gold prices started the month on the backfoot, having fallen below US$1,850/oz at the end of September. The events in Israel on 7 October set a rally in motion that took the US dollar price back up above US$2,000/oz by 27 October. The record-high monthly finish was mirrored in almost all other major currencies
Central banks gold buying maintained a historic pace but fell short of the Q3’22 record. Jewellery demand softened slightly in the face of high gold prices, while the investment picture was mixed.
Gold lost 3.7% in September, with the bulk of the move occurring during the last three days of the month. We attribute gold’s challenging month to an extensive run up in bond yields alongside a stronger dollar. The sell off at the end of the month was also likely the result of a strong adverse reaction to US economic data, a fall in the Chinese local premium and a negative technical breach.
Physically-backed gold ETFs saw another monthly outflow, losing US$3bn, equivalent to a 59t reduction in holdings by the end of September. Total AUM settled at US$198bn, further impacted by a nearly 4% reduction in the gold price, while collective holdings dropped 2% to 3,282t.
The traditional Defined Contribution (DC) investment portfolio made up of equities and bonds has come under increasing pressure in the last 18 months. Faced with rising inflation volatility risks and a highly uncertain economic backdrop, could now be the time to reconsider traditional thinking? We believe investors would benefit from expanding their “safe havens” options by considering gold.
Gold declined marginally by 1% in August, in the face of higher yields and a stronger dollar. Sentiment remained weak for most of the month as ETFs continued to lose AUM while COMEX managed money net long futures positions fell to a five month low.
Physically-backed gold ETFs saw net outflows of US$2.3bn in July, equivalent to a 34t reduction in holdings. Despite this, total assets under management (AUM) increased by 2% m/m to US$215bn as a rebound in gold price more than offset negative flows.