The price of gold climbed to an all-time high on Friday as uncertainty about conflict in the Middle East and the U.S. presidential election sent investors in search of a safe haven.
The latest jump is hardly a blip. Gold has soared about 32% since the outset of 2024, outpacing the 23% growth in the S&P 500 and a 28% surge in the tech-heavy Nasdaq over that same period.
The months-long stretch of strong performance owes in large part to an expectation of lower interest rates at the Federal Reserve, which typically coincide with an increase in gold prices, some analysts told ABC News.
They also pointed to purchases of gold reserves among central banks, as well as persistent demand from investors aiming to diversify their portfolio and hedge against global unrest.
Some analysts cautioned that gold prices often oscillate on a weekly or monthly basis, making it difficult for investors to time the market.
“Gold is at a new record high, but you can rest assured that once it hits its peak it will probably back off of it,” Jim Wyckoff, senior market analyst at Kitco Metals, told ABC News. “Nobody knows when.”
The surge in price has stemmed largely from immense appetite for gold among central banks in recent years, especially from the central bank in China, experts said.
Central banks worldwide purchased more than 1,000 tons of gold during each of the last two years, the World Gold Council found. Before those years, that threshold had never been crossed.
China ranks atop the list of nations seeking to bolster their gold reserves as a means of reducing its dependence on the U.S. dollar. Until May, the People’s Bank of China had purchased gold for 18 consecutive months.
