Gold has seen a lackluster couple of weeks, with Thursday’s trading being no exception. While persistent tensions between the U.S. and China have remained, prices for the yellow precious metal haven’t spiked as much as most people would have anticipated.
Regardless, prices of gold did rise somewhat on Thursday, inching up to a 14-day high as one bullish billionaire expects prices to double or even triple in the years to come.
Gold for August delivery climbed up $6.10, or half a percent, and settled at just under the $1,300 mark at $1,292.40 per ounce. That ended up being the highest gold has seen since May 15th, with prices ending the month at a slight increase.
“Wall Street has a neutral outlook on gold and many investors are confused as to whether [Federal Reserve] capitulation will be enough to take prices higher,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, in an interview with MarketWatch. “Trade tensions have failed to deliver a significant move higher because of the strong dollar.”
Moya added that Thursday’s uptick in gold prices partially came from comments made by billionaire Thomas Kaplan, founder of Electrum Group. In an interview with Bloomberg, Kaplan went on to say that he believes gold prices will increase to anywhere between $3,000 and $5,000, “if not a lot higher depending on macro circumstances.” While that’s drastically above what all save the most bullish investors think about gold, it wouldn’t be surprising to see prices rise significantly should trade talks fall apart some more.
Other precious metals also saw a modest rise. July silver futures rose 8 cents, or around 0.6 percent, to $14.491 an ounce. Back on Tuesday, Silver ended up reaching the lowest price of the year at $14.32.
Overall, Silver has fallen by 0.8 percent for the week and a further 3.2 percent over the course of the month. July platinum contracts rose by 0.3 percent at $794.10 per ounce, while the most-active September palladium contract climbed up 1.6 percent to $1,365.70 per ounce, well below its former glory.
A rebounding U.S. dollar has largely prevented gold from rising higher in price. Recent economic data showed that the American economy grew at a 3.1 annual pace in the first quarter, a slight decrease from the initial 3.2 percent estimate, while jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 215,000. Overall, however, the economic results were satisfactory to traders.
Gold prices had peaked around late February at $1,343.30 per ounce, a price level not seen since April 2018. While staging a dramatic comeback and rising over $200/oz from its low point in September, prices have since fallen mildly as gold bulls continue to remain optimistic about the future.
One development that’s helped prop up gold prices is the fact that a number of central banks around the world have been in a buying spree, purchasing up record quantities of gold.
In particular, Russia and China have purchased the most gold out of any other institution, ranking 6th and 7th respectively in total gold reserves. Despite being the world’s largest producer of gold, China’s overall reserves have been rather small in comparison to its competitors.