Morning Bites

🏦 Global central bank gold purchases decelerated to net 5t in January, vs. the revised +33t net seen in December, but still marked the 32th consecutive month of reserve accumulation, per the World Gold Council's data

Specifically, the only notable purchase in January was made by Uzbekistan (+9t), which was offset by Russia's sale (also -9t), per WGC data. We remind readers that official central bank purchases currently represent only ~1/3 of real gold demand from government institutions, per WGC estimates

Although, at spot, gold continues to trade above what we see as its fundamentally reasonable long-term level, we believe that the precious metal’s price will remain elevated in 2026, given the steady inflows into global ETFs and central banks

#gold