Wall Street expects gold to glitter again in year ahead after solid 2024

Few investments did better in 2024 than gold, which is wrapping up its best year since 2010 and one of its largest annual gains on record.

- Ryan Dezember

Few investments did better in 2024 than gold, which is wrapping up its best year since 2010 and one of its largest annual gains on record. Wall Street's gold bugs think prices will climb even higher in 2025.

Prices for the precious metal are up 27% in 2024 to $2,617.20 a troy ounce. That is better than the S&P 500's 25% gain and not far behind the 31% increase of the technology-stock-laden Nasdaq Composite Index.

Gold futures hit a record ahead of the U.S. presidential election but have declined since then. That was expected, though, as investors who had been nervous about the election's outcome moved money from the haven and back into riskier assets.

Analysts at JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup share a price target of $3,000. Here are some of their reasons:

Lower interest rates

The extent to which the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates remains to be determined, but investors expect further reductions in 2025. The lower rates get, the lower the opportunity cost of owning gold, which pays no interest or dividends.