Gold dropped to a four-month low of $1,142.92 an ounce Tuesday, but that doesn't dull its long-term attractiveness, according to Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Bank.
So what's going to bring it back?
First, there's the growth of Asia's middle class, Warren Hogan, ANZ's chief economist, and Victor Thianpitiya, a commodity strategist for ANZ, write in an article for
Barron's.
"The income effect implies that consumer purchasing power increases as real wages rise, and as such, the demand for gold will increase as more people can afford to buy it."
Then there's central bank demand, they explain. "Over the next decade, emerging market central banks will need to hold a larger stock of physical gold in their vaults to shore up confidence in the newly floating exchange rates."
So where exactly is gold headed?
"Under our central case, gold prices are likely to rise gradually, eventually breaking through the $2,000 level within the next decade," Hogan and Thianpitiya say. And they see gold at $2,400 in 2030.
Not everyone is bullish on gold, at least for the short term. The soaring dollar and focus on when the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates have depressed the precious metal, and some experts believe that trend will continue.
"In this environment, where the U.S. dollar is strong and will probably get stronger with a rise in rates, that won't be good for gold," Daniel Belchers, a commodities fund manager at Threadneedle Investments, tells
The Wall Street Journal.
"If you're looking at U.S. dollar strength, and U.S. economic strength, it's going to be difficult for gold to do anything in that environment."
The dollar has reached multi-year highs against a range of currencies in recent weeks. That includes a 12-year peak against the euro this week and a seven-year zenith against the yen last week.
As for the Fed, many economists expect it to start increasing rates in September. When it comes to the economy, analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal on average forecast growth of 2.9 percent this year, up from 2.4 percent in 2014.
Related Stories:
© 2023 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.