Gold off to slow start this morning in featureless trading
Sharma: ‘Gold is now a vehicle of central bank revolt against the dollar.’
(USAGOLD – 4/24/2023) – Gold is off to a slow start this morning in featureless trading. It is up $1 at $1986.50. Silver is level at $25.16. In a Financial Times opinion piece over the weekend, Rockefeller International’s Ruchir Sharma says that there is “something new” in the gold market – “heavy” central bank gold buying driven by weaponization of the US dollar. He points out that central banks now account for a record 33% of monthly gold demand. “[T]he oldest and most traditional of assets, gold,” he writes, “is now a vehicle of central bank revolt against the dollar. Often in the past, both the dollar and gold have been seen as havens, but now gold is seen as much safer.” Separately, the World Gold Council posted data that shows central banks picking up in the first two months of 2023 where they left off in 2022 – a record year for central bank offtake. Early-year demand was at a pace not seen since at least 2010.
Central bank gold demand
(First two months of the year, 2010-2023)
Source: World Gold Council, IMF IFS, respective central banks
