Don’t rule out gold just yet

Throughout the pandemic, it has been outperformed by Bitcoin in a macro-economic environment that supposedly calls upon the precious metal’s sound money virtues.

Even Goldman Sachs piled in, calling gold the poor man’s Bitcoin.

However, over the last few days, as inflation figures rose to a record 30-year high, gold has been moving, and it could be a trend that is set to stay.

The precious metal is now just 2% away from breaking even for 2021, having reached its lowest point in September.

It could be increased demand for jewelry that gives the precious metal the much needed push.

“Consumer demand led by gold jewelry mostly going into the emerging markets has done very, very well in the first three quarters of this year,” George Milling-Stanley, the chief gold strategist at State Street’s SPDR ETFs, told CNBC.

Breaking it down, jewelry is responsible for 50% of demand for gold around the world, according to iShares.

Central banks reserves account for 25%, while individuals and industrial uses are at 15% and 10% respectively.

“We should be running into what is typically the strongest period for gold demand in terms of jewelry in the year for the next five to six months and I think that’s part of the reason why gold is where it is today, comfortably above that $1,800 level, which it’s found very difficult to surmount during the summer and into the fall,” Milling-Stanley said.

“But here we are, wintertime. Gold’s doing very, very well.”