After already surging above $1,500 this year, Frank Holmes writes in Forbes that he sees reason for gold to go much higher in 2019. Find out why here
Earlier last week, gold briefly fell below $1,500 before jumping back to its current level above $1,520. Forbes contributor Frank Holmes believes dips like these present a tremendous buying opportunity considering what's in store for the metal. In his latest analysis, Holmes outlined three key reasons why gold could surge far past its recent 52-week highs.
As his first reason, Holmes lists the often overlooked, but paramount factor of U.S. inflation. Despite expectations that consumer prices would rise when President Trump took office due to his trade policies, the official rate of inflation has remained still for the most part over the past couple of years. Now, however, things might be finally catching up.
The August inflation reading showed that core consumer prices rose to an 11-year high, amounting to a 2.4% growth year-on-year. This represents the biggest inflation spike since September 2008. Adding to that, August's report also showed the biggest monthly rise in medical care costs since 2016 and record increases in health insurance costs. Combining this with the effect that import tariffs are likely to have, Holmes thinks that we are headed for a period of rapidly-rising inflation that will catch many off-guard. Gold has historically acted as the premier hedge in order to combat inflation and protect one's savings.
Holmes further points to what he calls the negative-yield phenomenon: currently, $17 trillion of global debt trades with a negative yield, which has helped pushed gold to all-time highs in a number of top currencies. Although negative-yielding bonds haven't reached the U.S. yet, Holmes expects Treasuries to soon be affected by the phenomenon as well.
Besides extremely disappointing showings by the 10-year Treasury and a much-feared yield curve inversion, Holmes also notes that the Federal Reserve has shown a willingness to cut rates in quick succession. A week ago, President Trump encouraged the Fed board to push rates to zero or below zero to compete with other top economies, after previously calling for a rate cut of 100 basis points. Should U.S. yields indeed fall into negative territory, it would not only eliminate a main haven competitor but also cause an immense surge in gold prices in dollar terms.
Negative-yielding U.S. debt is far from the only economic concern, as Holmes lists a slew of geopolitical and economic risks as his third reason for why gold is poised to keep moving higher. The trade tensions have played their part in slowing global growth, as factory production worldwide has now contracted for two straight months. The likelihood of a no-deal Brexit has also brought gold to an all-time high in pound sterling terms, as British investors rushed to the metal in preparation of turmoil. Flare-ups like the unrest in Hong Kong and the recent attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities have also kept investors on their toes.
In an interesting note, Netherlands' central bank (DNB) recently hinted to a belief that the monetary system could collapse, and that gold would serve as the asset to rebuild it. Holmes found this to be very much in line with the portfolio strategy of the official sector, as global central banks have been net buyers of bullion since 2010 and have lately upped their purchases by a tremendous margin.
