Sportable, win gold and records! In the home stretch before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (July 26-August 11), the pressure is increasing on the shoulders of athletes. To galvanize them, the model of the medals has already been revealed to them, as well as the designer box that will accompany them. All that remains is to win them.
Never have these hard-hitting trophies been so coveted. And for good reason: even if their symbolic weight remains unchanged, their value continues to increase. Carried by the burning breath of speculation, the gold market has indeed been on fire in recent months. Like the champions it will soon reward, the yellow metal is flying from record to record.
Already, on December 4, 2023, an ounce of 31 grams crossed 2,135 dollars (1,986 euros) during the session, a historic level. It then shattered its highest level, reached in August 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. But after regaining momentum for a while, he took off again. Since the beginning of March, the precious metal has continued to shine under the media spotlight, focused on each stage of its irresistible rise.
Crazy escape
On March 6, it reached a new high, at $2,142 per ounce. A mark quickly erased from the registers since, with the arrival of spring, it passed the peak of 2,200 dollars, peaking at 2,265 dollars on 1er April and dipped a head above $2,300 at the opening on Thursday, April 4, before falling back slightly.
In this crazy runaway for gold, silver is not out of the race. Logically less efficient than its rival, it is progressing slowly and traded, at the beginning of April, at almost 26 dollars per ounce. He thus reconnects with levels he had not experienced for two years. Gold and silver in Olympic form.
This surge in precious metal prices is regularly fueled by the comments of Jerome Powell, the chairman of the American Federal Reserve. He has been suggesting, since December 2023, that a reduction in interest rates could be possible. When and at what pace? Investors take out their crystal balls every time.
On Wednesday April 3, Mr. Powell dropped a new clue: this could happen “ at one point [en 2024] ». This prospect of lowering rates to give a boost to the economy is causing the greenback to fall and propelling gold to the firmament. The yellow metal also benefits from the appetite of central banks, particularly Chinese and Indian, who are buying it with all their might. The safes are full of gold.