Shoppers who picked up a gold bar from Costco (NASDAQ: COST) in 2023 are now seeing solid profits as the precious metal continues to hit new record highs.

When the retailer first began selling one-ounce gold bars in mid-2023, each was priced at about $1,900 and sold out almost instantly.

Those same bars are now worth around $4,253, meaning early buyers have more than doubled their money in less than two years. 

That’s a return of roughly 124%, far outperforming the broader stock market over the same period. The yellow metal has also gained more than 60% year-to-date.

Gold’s growing appetite 

At the same time, Costco’s gold sales have since surged to nearly $200 million per month, pointing to the growing appetite for physical gold ownership.

However, affordability has declined sharply. To this end, insights shared by Wall St Engine show it now takes the average U.S. worker about 116 hours of labor to afford one ounce of gold,  the highest level in at least a century. 

That figure has doubled in just 18 months, highlighting how gold prices have far outpaced wage growth.

Gold’s share of global investable assets has also risen, climbing from 4% to 6% over the past two years,  its highest level since 1986.

During the 1980 gold bubble, that share peaked at 22%, though access to investment markets was far more limited at the time. 

Notably, the recent momentum has been fueled by investors rushing to safe-haven assets amid concerns over a potential economic downturn driven by factors such as tariffs, inflation pressures, and a cooling labor market.

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