WORD ON THE STREET: “GOLD HAS ENTERED A NEW BULL MARKET”

A growing number of analysts and money managers are turning bullish on gold and predicting the gains have only just begun.

Gold is on track to hit $1,400-an-ounce, a four-year high, by early next year, says Francisco Blanch, the global head of commodities research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, who told Bloomberg, “lower long-term U.S. interest rates and lack of progress by President Trump in delivering economic reforms” will drive the metal higher.

“Gold has entered into a new bull market,” declared two Schroders fund managers, citing factors including weakness in the dollar, extremely high equity valuations and the potential that Chinese demand for gold will “surge.” Given these considerations, fund managers James Luke and Mark Lacey believe “gold could turn out to be an under-owned and well-priced insurance policy.”

That insurance may well be needed given the U.S. political climate. CFRA’s Lindsey Bell recently published a research note explaining gold’s luster as a hedge against battles in Washington coming up this fall. “CFRA thinks gold is a smart and defensive way to diversify a portfolio ahead of an increasingly uncertain near-term environment,” Bell wrote.

Echoing that sentiment is the world’s largest money manager. Russ Koesterich, a portfolio manager at BlackRock, says, “I would prefer to bet on gold’s diversifying properties rather than political stability.”

So strong is the rally that it is turning gold skeptics into gold bugs. Even Ritholtz Wealth Management’s Michael Batnick, who calls himself a “vocal critic” of gold as an asset, recently announced he would buy shares of a gold trust that seeks to reflect the performance of the price of gold bullion in an amount that represents 10 percent of his liquid net worth.

Batnick explained he was attracted by gold’s continued rise, and with this rally showing no signs of stopping, other smart investors may do the same.