With the coronavirus pandemic surging and the details of a new U.S. stimulus package proposal weighing heavily on investors' minds, gold soared to an all-time high Monday, reaching $1,932 per ounce. And Goldman Sachs expects the precious metal to glitter even more brightly in investors' eyes over the next year, it will reach $2,300 per ounce by July 2021. The lustrous forecast is 15% higher than its previous forecast, issued in mid-June, of $2,000 per ounce.
According to analysts at the investment bank, a variety of causes will combine to propel gold prices higher, including a "potential shift in the U.S. Fed toward an inflationary bias against a backdrop of rising geopolitical tensions, elevated U.S. domestic political and social uncertainty and a second wave of Covid-19 related infection."
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The weakening of the dollar represents another factor for the bank's forecast. "Combined with a record level of debt accumulation by the U.S. government, real concerns around the longevity of the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency have started to emerge."
UBS shares a similarly optimistic outlook on gold, anticipating that gold will reach $2,000 per ounce by the end of September. But the most bullish take on the asset from the big-bank sphere comes from Bank of America, which is holding fast to a forecast that it issued in April -- that gold will soar to $3,000 within the next 18 months.
With gold continuing to hit new highs, investors may find that they have a hankering to get some exposure to it in their portfolios. Fortunately for them, there are several gold-oriented stocks that represent compelling opportunities at the moment.
