With so many headwinds affecting the world economy, 2020 is looking like it could be a very dangerous year for many investors. Stock markets may have gained 30% last year, but that was only due to the collapse of markets in late 2018. A 30% rise this year would have the Dow Jones pushing 40,000 points, and right now it’s having great difficulty even reaching 30,000 points.
The Chinese coronavirus is currently the largest issue affecting the economy, with the Chinese economy all but shut down as the virus continues its spread. That shutdown is affecting economies all over the world, as Chinese companies have ceased their purchases of key materials and commodities that are used in industrial production. Demand for oil, copper, coal, and other important metals and minerals has plummeted.
With that backdrop, it’s somewhat surprising that many mainstream gold analysts still seem to under-predict the gains that gold will make in 2020. Remember that last year analysts were predicting gold to end 2019 at $1,400 per ounce. Instead, it ended the year at well over $1,500 an ounce. This year, with gold already at around $1,570 per ounce, analysts are expecting gold to max out at $1,650 an ounce by the end of the year.
That seems more than a little pessimistic. After all, with the economy slowing and stock markets in danger of crashing, the outlook for gold this year is looking increasingly bullish. Given the conservative predictions of analysts in 2019, and the better outlook for gold this year, it’s highly likely that gold will exceed those $1,650 predictions by the middle of the year, forcing analysts to adjust their predictions higher. Gold at $1,700 or $1,750 by the end of the year wouldn’t be out of the question.
In fact, many people wouldn’t be surprised to see gold break the $2,000 barrier by the time this bull market reaches its peak. While that likely won’t be this year, it’s going to happen sometime during the bull run. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, gold made it to $1,900 pretty easily, so $2,000 during the next crisis should be no problem.
Now it’s time for investors to decide how they want to allocate their investments. Stocks have just about run their course, and anyone getting in now is getting in while stocks are at their peak. There isn’t much, if any, room for them to grow, so now is the time for those who have made big paper gains to realize them and move their assets to safety ahead of a market crash. If you haven’t begun investing in gold, now is the time to do it, before gold really takes off.
This article was originally posted on Goldco.
