No Quality Street chocolates this time! – David Melvill

Key topics.Gold price hits $3,000/oz after 4.5 years, fueled by inflation and central banks.Gold reached $1,000/oz in 2009, boosted by the 2008 financial crisis.Future gold price surge expected amid US debt issues and global instability..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here..Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here..If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By David Melvill*.The journey of the gold price."It is time for celebration!" The writer announced joyfully to his family on his arrival back from the office. Off to the shop he marched to buy each of his four children a box of Quality Street chocolates..Gold finally reached the milestone of $1,000 an oz..It had been a long time in coming. The gold mines had hedged their gold production (sold it forward) and central banks no longer were required to hold gold to back their currency, so they were systematically big sellers of gold. .As a result, the gold price had spiralled downwards from its high of $850 in 1980, to its low of $250, in July 1999. This was a 20 year journey of much pain..It then took 10 years to ascend this wall of worry and finally reach that magical number of $ 1 000 in Sept. 2009. .Gold was given a boost by the Great Financial Crisis of 2008/9, where quantitative easing (the printing of huge sums of money) was used to "fix" the crisis..The next milestone of $2,000 an oz.How long would it take to reach the next milestone of $ 2 000 an oz we wondered? Another 10 years perhaps? It took 11 years. This time there too was a trigger, the covid pandemic of 2020, this uncertainty spurred on the gold price..Our youngest daughter, Leesha, remembered when she was only eleven years old that they had all received that delicious box of chocolates when gold reached $ 1000 an ounce. "Will we be receiving another box dad?" she asked enthusiastically..There was no way that I was going to let her down, so off to the shop in search of the scarce quality chocolates again for all..Gold knocks over the next barrier of $3,000 an oz.A few days ago, on the 17th March, gold knocked over the next barrier of $ 3 000 an oz. This time it only took four and a half years to reach this hurdle. What was the trigger this time you may ask? Many countries experienced high levels of inflation this spurred the gold price on. Added to this, central banks over the last five years have been the biggest buyers of gold. .The kids are all grown up now, so there was no request for Quality Street chocolates again. The best news though is that they all hold some gold, mostly in the form of Krugerrands. This is my best joy..How long will it take for gold to master the next hurdle of $ 4,000?.We must ask the question: "How long will it take before gold masters the next hurdle of $4,000?" I have learnt not to make price forecasts; they are mostly wrong. I would much rather guess what will be the drivers to spur the gold price on?.My best guess is the unprecedented debt levels that the US finds itself with ($36 trillion). There is a big attempt by President Trump and Elon Musk to stop monies being squandered by budgets being cut. .If the world's monetary system which is based on the dollar, were to falter, there will be serious trouble for the world. Gold, most likely, will be the asset of choice that the world will turn to bring back financial stability, as it has always done so in the past..Therefore, expect the gold price to soar. Here is looking forward to sharing some quality chocolate with you soon..Read also:.🔒 Gold's glow fades: Dollar surge and risk appetite dim the rally – Marcus Ashworth🔒 FT: Why the west should be paying more attention to the gold price riseGold is at record levels – what now?.*David Melvill (Real money specialist / "Goud- en silwerspesialis")

No Quality Street chocolates this time! – David Melvill

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