Bloomberg/Natasha Doff and Eddie Van Der Walt/01-12-17
Baring Asset Management’s Christopher Mahon has one major conviction about 2017: it will be the year in which central-bank bashing by politicians becomes the new normal, so he’s seeking shelter in gold.
“This year is the turning point,” Mahon said in an interview on Monday. “For seven years or so, central banks have largely escaped critique even though one could argue that their policies have been pretty inadequate in many senses. It’s very plausible now that politicians stand up and throw stones at central bankers.”
PG View: If faith in central banks is further eroded, gold is likely to be buoyed. “It retains its appeal as an asset that once underwrote the monetary system and it can’t be created at will like currencies and bonds,” said Matthew Turner, a Macquarie Group Ltd. economist.
