Volatility could push gold to $3,000 per ounce: Strategist

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The price of gold (GC=F) continues to rise as volatility (^VIX) and uncertainty mount across traditional equity markets (^DJI, ^IXIC, ^GSPC). While the commodity is up 30% compared to this same time last year, is there more room for gold to grow?

Bloomberg Intelligence senior macro strategist Mike McGlone joins Wealth! to give insight into the movements in gold and the commodity market at large.

"Gold is indicating there's bigger problems with the macro economy on a year to date, one year, two year and three year basis. The rock is beating stocks. It's beating the S&P 500 total return. It means something," says McGlone.

McGlone believes that gold will eventually reach $3,000 per ounce.

"When we have some further back and fill in the stock market, the mantra I've been saying for almost two years now is 'why buy gold with US Treasury T-bills at 5% and the stock market on a tear?' Well, that seems to be shifting in one key indicator is volatility."

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Wealth!

00:00 Speaker A

Gold, climbing higher today. Now approaching $2,500 an ounce. The precious metal has risen over 20% so far this year, and our next guest says it may have even more room to run. Joining me now is Mike McGlone, senior macro strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence. Mike, thanks for being here. I want to start on the catalyst for this run-up that we've seen in gold, and there has been quite a few. But what's really fueling this rally in your view, and is now still the right time to buy?

01:04 Mike McGlone

Well, I think gold, it's just a matter of time it gets to $3,000 an ounce. It looks like it's put in a pretty good support area around $2,000, it's probably raising that up around $2,200. And a little bit contrary to your previous guest, to me, gold is indicating there's bigger problems with the macro economy. I know year to date, one year, two year, and three year basis, the rock is beating stocks. It's beating the S&P 500 total return. It means something. But I think the key thing to remember about gold is to mention why it's going up. You have to start with the unlimited friendship that started with President Xi and President Putin in 2022, and then Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That shifted the world order, tilted towards gold. The biggest, the deepest pockets on the planet have been buying gold, I.E. central banks. And one thing that's been significant, there's been big outflows in gold. ETFs have been selling, but just the last three months they started turning upwards. So I think what people are realizing is this risk off an asset is probably likely to continue, particularly if we tilt towards the US recession. And US bond yields looks like they're peaking from pretty high levels, just looking at things like 200-day moving averages.

03:38 Speaker A

So you said you see gold quickly approaching $3,000 an ounce. When do you think that will happen? And is that the ceiling for you? Where do you see gold pricing, the ceiling topping out?

04:00 Mike McGlone

So, I'll be honest, I didn't say quickly, but I think it's just a matter of time it gets there. I don't know how long. It's one of those lessons I learned as an ex-trader, ex-investor is don't put time and price together. I think it's going to continue to go higher. I think the key catalyst for gold to potentially go higher is when we have some further back and filling the stock market. The mantra I've been saying for almost two years now was, why buy gold with US Treasury T-bills at 5% and the stock market on a tear? Well, that seems to be shifting. One key indicator is volatility. Look at the VIX volatility index, the 200 day moving average. It's bottoming right now, in the process of bottoming from the lowest levels since 2018. So stock market volatility is mean reverting higher. Stock market prices are probably reverting down a little bit for this elusive recession that hasn't happened yet. And gold has been the main outlier. So I'll end with this. The Bloomberg Commodity Index on a one-year basis is actually down and you mentioned gold's up almost 30%. So that is a pretty severe global deflationary trajectory. Industrial metals were up for about 24% this year, now they're down. So I don't see what ends it. I think it's risked that it's going to accelerate.

This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino