Investors are betting on gold this year as they hedge against uncertainties in the stock market and the economy.
Roughly 38% of investors with $250,000 or more in investable assets surveyed by asset manager State Street Global Advisors in July and August said they have gold in their portfolios. That's higher than the 20% who claimed to have gold exposure in the spring of 2023.
The average allocation in gold increased substantially too, from 14% in 2023 to 21% in 2024, according to State Street's survey.
Gold's reputation as a safe haven asset in times of stock market volatility is the biggest perceived benefit of the investment according to roughly 43% of those surveyed. Other top reasons included using gold as a source of long-term returns and as a hedge against inflation.
Concerns about the economy and uncertainty leading up to the U.S. presidential elections had resulted in some stock market turbulence. That made investors nervous and had them looking at more conservative investments.
Gold was most popular amongst younger generations , according to State Street. More than 60% of millennials said they were invested in gold compared to 20% of Boomers.
Retail investors have piled billions into the precious metal in recent months as it climbed to multiple all-time highs. Since the beginning of the year, the price of spot gold has increased nearly 26%, slightly outpacing the S&P 500.
The majority of respondents to the State Street survey (54%) who were invested in gold said they held gold bullion or physical gold, up from up from 49% in spring of 2023. The next most popular way to invest in gold was through a gold exchange-traded fund (44%), followed by gold collectibles (39%), and gold mining stocks (31%).
At retailers like Costco (COST), gold and silver bullion were big sellers online and in-store in the past quarter. After a pullback from gold ETFs earlier this year, retail investors returned by pouring $1.91 billion into them in September alone.
StateStreet manages SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), the oldest and largest gold ETF in the U.S. with assets of nearly $72 billion at close of trading Friday.
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