Gold outperforms nearly all other asset classes

Even though the price of gold in the Eurozone has weakened somewhat since its all-time high of 73 € per gram in April and has since predominantly moved sideways, at just over 70 €, the precious metal has outperformed almost all equity indices and most other asset classes in the first half of 2024. A comparison of the performance of gold with that of all major European and North American share indices as well as bonds, commodities, the US dollar and cryptocurrencies illustrates this impressively.

H1 performance: 16 per cent up in the Eurozone and 12 per cent in the US

The remarkable performance of gold despite the long-lasting price rally since 2020, and only temporarily interrupted by sideways movements, had been expected for this year only by the most optimistic analysts: 15.9 per cent in the Eurozone, 12.1 per cent in the US, 13 per cent in the UK and 19.9 per cent in Switzerland in the first six months of 2024. The respective stock markets, by comparison, did not perform as well, with the EURO STOXX 50 at 10.32 per cent, the London Stock Exchange at 4.76 per cent and the Swiss SMI at 7.36 per cent. Only US stock markets such as the S&P 500 outperformed gold in the first half of the year, with a gain of 15.84 per cent.

Other asset classes performed significantly weaker than the stock markets

According to the latest World Gold Council data, yields on US government bonds dropped slightly by 0.2 per cent, while global government bonds (excluding US) lost an average of 5.81 per cent. Commodities gained 5.83 per cent in value in the US, while the US dollar increased by 2.62 per cent. The Börse Online Best of Crypto index rose by 7.38 per cent over the last six months, with Bitcoin, still the best-known cryptocurrency, gaining by far the most with an increase of 35.21 per cent. It is, however, notable that extreme gains in cryptocurrencies within a relatively short period of time are accompanied by the risk of sharp price losses.