Though gold has a strong reputation for both stability and performance, its actual rise in the XXI century has been even more impressive than one might think. Indeed, earlier in 2024, Finbold estimated that an investment in the world’s biggest commodity made on the eve of the new millennium would have returned significantly more than the S&P 500.
Such strength has, without a doubt, persisted well into 2024 as the precious metal has risen as much as 22.30% since the start of the year and is, with a press time price of $2,522, continuously tethering on the edge of achieving a new all-time high (ATH).
The rise has also led to a single gold bar – usually weighing 400 troy ounces – being worth approximately $1 million. Such a rise means that buying even a single gold bar 20 years ago – at the time of recovery between the Dot-com crash and the Great Recession – would have earned a trader as much as $836,000.
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Indeed, in August 2004, the price of gold stood just under $410 per ounce, meaning that a single bar would be worth approximately $164,000. Over the course of the 20 years, the commodity has appreciated in value by a full 515%.
Is gold still worth buying?
Along with performing with impressive strength and momentum since the start of 2024, gold is widely expected to persist in its climb throughout the remaining months of the year and then into 2025.
In fact, multiple analysts, not the least of which being Bloomberg’s commodity expert Mike McGlone, have been predicting since late 2023 that gold will rocket to at least $3,000 per ounce by the end of 2024.
Should such a forecast come true, even buying a gold bar at the time of publication on August 20, at a time when the commodity is near its ATH, would see a profit of about $200,000.
Why is gold rising so much in 2024?
Gold’s impressive rise can attributed to multiple factors that have weighed heavily on investors’ minds in recent months.
To begin with, the precious metal is generally seen as a safe haven for wealth in times of crisis. Though the danger of a crash has subsided somewhat as inflation is cooling off and interest rates are expected to come down, the fragility of trader confidence became abundantly clear following the employment report at the end of July.
This year has also seen a substantial uptick in geopolitical instability – at least from the western perspective – and the numerous ongoing conflicts and talk of possible upcoming conflicts have driven many to seek the relative safety of gold.
Finally, though gold has been a metal without much practical utility for centuries, the recent advances in electronics – and the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom – have helped drive industrial demand for the commodity even higher.
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Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
