Rates

Egon von Greyerz and Matthew Piepenburg take a sober look ahead at a macro environment riddled with undeniable event-risk—from geopolitics and asset bubbles to debased currencies and distrusted global leadership.

We may well see a debt refinancing crisis, and anticipating how we might overcome this impasse is difficult, given the uncertainty surrounding the potential intervention of central banks in the face of this debt wall.

Visibility on the fundamentals of the gold price remains as good as ever. It is therefore timely for us to present and detail our outlook for 2024. Gold's performance in 2024 will be influenced by 4 major factors.

The price of gold ends 2023 with a new record closing price. The yellow metal was one of the best-performing assets, up +16% for the year as a whole. The S&P 500 index did slightly better, but gold outperformed European equity markets.

As my last report for 2023, I wanted to hit the big issues blunt in the face—from debt and sovereign bond markets to themes on the USD, inflation, risk markets and physical gold.

The rejuvenation of gold buyers in China is explained by the slowdown in the property market, the weakness of equities and the currency, as well as low bank interest rates. Young Chinese, concerned about economic stagnation, are turning to gold as a financial refuge.

Real estate prices in France are falling, but have we seen the last of expensive housing? Far from it! Price distortion has reached a level that will take a long time to resolve. And this rise in property prices is a global phenomenon.

The Fed's change of tone offers a different outlook for precious metals: with the dollar weakening, fears of recession, lower rates and the threat of renewed inflation that a Fed pivot would generate, gold has every chance of resuming its upward trend as early as next year.

The interest rate hikes implemented by central banks since the resurgence of inflation have appeared to be the norm. However, it is a revolution in the making. After decades of falling rates, they are now rising sharply, raising fears of unprecedented financial and economic risks.

In the United States, real estate is no longer a safe haven due to the stagnation of the real estate market and the absence of investment incentives. In China, the growing disinterest in real estate has also changed savers' behaviour towards gold.