“When is the right time to buy gold?”
As America’s Gold Authority®, we at U.S. Money Reserve hear this question a lot. But the short and simple answer is that it can always be a good time to buy physical gold depending on your current financial situation and goals. This is because gold is recognized by many as a hedge against market volatility and an asset that has seen significant growth over the long term.
Instead of wondering when to buy gold, I like to scan financial headlines for instances where adding more gold to my portfolio may be helpful. I know I want gold in my portfolio at all times as a powerful diversifier, but if analysts are saying that gold seems ready to increase in price or that markets are prepped to tumble, I may still want to reexamine my current asset mix and see if there are any growth opportunities for me to seize. And if a recent report by JPMorgan Chase is any indication, we may be seeing one of those opportunities right now.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is predicting new all-time high prices for gold by the end of 2024.
That subhead really says it all. On July 26, 2023, Bloomberg published an article on a research note released by Greg Shearer, executive director of global commodities research for the multinational financial services firm.
In its forecast, JPMorgan predicts gold prices will average around $2,012/oz. through the second half of 2023 (gold is currently sitting at around $1,968/oz. as of this writing), then average around $2,175/oz. by Q4 2024. That would send gold over its current all-time record high price of $2,072.50/oz.
As Bloomberg states, this analysis shows that JPMorgan Chase “sees an opportunity in gold.” But that’s not all JPMorgan says in its note. They also mention opportunities for gold prices to rise even higher.
The bank also predicts a U.S. recession, which could push gold prices even higher.
According to Bloomberg, JPMorgan Chase also predicts a “mild U.S. recession and rate cuts in second quarter” of 2024, which could provide additional upside potential for physical gold.
“We’re in a very prime place where we think gold ownership and long allocation to gold and silver is something that acts as both a late-cycle diversifier and something that will perform as we look to the next sort of 12, 18 months,” Shearer said.
Falling real U.S. yields in particular are given as a “significant driver” for gold; another driver is continued demand from central banks as governments around the world look to diversify away from the U.S. dollar and hedge against geopolitical uncertainty. As Shearer states, “There’s an eagerness here to really buy in and diversify allocation away from [national] currencies.”
With gold prices primed for new highs, now may be the perfect time to add more physical gold to your portfolio.
As I said at the start of this week’s “Gold News & Views,” for me there’s never a “wrong” time to buy gold. It all comes down to where you are right now in your savings and retirement planning journey, where you would like to end up, and how you would like to get there. But if one of the largest banks in the world is pointing to physical gold as an opportunity for consumers (while government banks around the world continue to show record-breaking demand for gold), adding gold to your own portfolio may not be a bad idea.
If the U.S. economy is headed for even a mild recession, and analysts are predicting record high prices for gold (with a recession pushing them even higher), now may be a great time to reexamine your portfolio and see if adding additional physical precious metals to your asset mix is right for you.
