Gold Up 8% In First Half 2017; Builds On 8.5% Gain In 2016

– Gold up 8% in first half 2017; builds on 8.5% gain in 2016
– U.S. dollar down 6.5% – worst quarter in seven years
– Gold higher in all currencies except Draghi’s euro 
– Gold outperforms bonds; similar gains as stock indices
– S&P 500 and Dax outperform gold marginally
– World stocks (MSCI World) up 10%; gold outperforms Eurostoxx (+6%) & FTSE (+2.3%)
– Silver up 3.7% in first half; builds on 15% gain in 2016
– Stocks, bonds, property buoyed by stimulus
– Resilience in gold as world struggles to hold confidence
– “If one hasn’t diversified this would be a good time to do that” – Shiller

Finviz.com

From President Trump taking office, Fed policy tightening to European and UK elections, Brexit rumblings and growing Middle Eastern risks, the first half of 2017 gave witness to a few trends which look set to impact markets in the coming months.

Gold and silver are amongst the best performing assets in 2017, with gains of 8% and 4% respectively and stayed resilient despite poor sentiment.

Demand drivers such as geopolitical uncertainty, a weak dollar and low-interest rates continue to provide support for the precious metals as does renewed robust demand in the Middle East,  India and China.

Given 2016 finished with a sell-off in the precious metals, both gold and silver have remained impressively resilient in the face of overwhelmingly bearish sentiment in much of the media and with the retail investing public in the U.S. and most of the western world.

Gold rose in value in all currencies except the euro in which it fell 1.2%.

This is compared to say the likes of crude oil which has been under pressure of late and experienced a 20% correction. Not even the world’s two top oil producers agreeing in May to prolong their ongoing output cut from the first half of 2017 to the end of the first quarter of 2018 has been enough to prop up the price.

For silver fans, the last few weeks have been disappointing as silver has dropped 4.9%, while gold has dropped only 1.9%. Silver often mimics gold but of late industrial traits in the metal have affected its price more than usual.