– 2015 and start 2016 “worrying” for markets
– Gold’s long term performance strong in all currencies (see table)
– “Improved performance in market for gold coins”
– “Demand for U.S. Mint issued gold coins rose 45.6% y/y in weight terms”
– “2015 the third busiest year over the last ten years”
– Gold has key role of a major diversifier in portfolios
2015 was a troubling year for the financial markets. Across currencies, commodities, equities and fixed income, full year performance was lacklustre in terms of aggregate returns and worrying in terms of risk metrics. Market volatility at the outset of 2016 suggests we are likely to see more volatility in 2016.
| GLOBAL CURRENCIES | 1 YEAR | 3 YEAR | 5 YEAR | 10 YEAR |
| US dollar | -11.1 | -36.7 | -23.2 | +109.4 |
| Euro | +0.8 | -23.8 | -6.7 | +128.4 |
| Pound sterling | -7.3 | -31.9 | -20.0 | +144.2 |
| Japanese yen | -9.2 | -7.6 | +12.2 | +115.0 |
| Swiss franc | -9.2 | -31.7 | -21.2 | +59.9 |
| Indian rupee | -5.5 | -22.8 | +13.4 | +205.5 |
| Turkish lira | +13.4 | +3.6 | +47.8 | +352.8 |
| Saudi riyal | -11.2 | -36.7 | -23.1 | +109.5 |
| Indonesian rupiah | -0.9 | -8.9 | +18.1 | +194.8 |
| Korean won | -5.5 | -31.0 | -21.3 | +139.9 |
| Russian ruble | +8.7 | +43.6 | +73.6 | +407.4 |
| South African rand | +15.8 | +9.7 | +68.0 | +392.9 |
| Chinese renmimbi | -7.4 | -34.6 | -25.5 | +67.2 |
| Canadian dollar | +5.5 | -12.5 | +4.2 |