Conclusion
The news is all good for gold and silver. We still have high interest rates — with expectations of a Fed rate cut now pushing out to September from June — a strong dollar, bond yields approaching 5%, and negative real interest rates, and yet gold is up 14% YTD and silver is up 18%.
What gives?
Part of the answer lies in central bank gold buying, which hit a record in 2022, nearly matched it last year, and remains robust so far in 2024. BRICS nations like China and Russia, who are pursuing a de-dollarization agenda, see a need to dump dollars and instead invest in hard assets like gold that cannot be easily confiscated by Western nations.
There is likely some truth in the notion that wealthy individuals are buying gold for the first time or bulking up their stashes of physical metal. Particularly in China, where gold has been popular for hundreds of years, citizens see it as a good alternative to real estate and a safe haven that isn’t affected by the economy.
The fact that ETFs, especially those held by Westerners, have remained on the sidelines of the gathering bull market, is actually good news.
If ETF investors pile in with central banks and other institutional investors, gold and gold stocks could see an explosive move up.
Consider: the gold and equity markets have a total market capitalization of about half a trillion dollars, compared to Microsoft’s market cap of over $3 trillion. Only a small shift in assets, into gold stocks from some of the resource sector’s market leaders, could see the stocks move considerably higher.
![[smilie_happy]](https://goldseiten-forum.com/wcf/images/smilies/smilie_happy_058.gif "smilie_happy"){kind=small}
….und (beinahe) überall noch der staubige Mief des Sozialismus.
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![[smilie_blume]](https://goldseiten-forum.com/wcf/images/smilies/smilie_blume1.gif "smilie_blume"){kind=small}
