Silver beat out tech stocks as the best place for cash in H1
While the surge in large-cap technology stocks (COMP:IND)(XLK) has been in the spotlight, it was silver (XAGUSD:CUR) that generated the strongest return among global assets during the first half of 2024, according to Deutsche Bank Research.
Silver climbed 22.5% during the first six months of the year, outperforming the 18.6% total return on the Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND) and the 15.3% return on the S&P 500 (SP500)(SPY)(IVV), said Jim Reid, Deutsche Bank’s global head of macro research and thematic strategy, in a Monday note, crediting his team colleague, Henry Allen.
Silver (XAGUSD:CUR) was trading above $29 per ounce on Monday. Seeking Alpha Analyst Anna Sokolidou recently said silver prices are expected to continue advancing despite the risk of higher interest rates, with the industrial metal finding support from its uses in AI and green energy technologies.
Reid said the Nasdaq (COMP:IND) and the S&P 500 (SP500)(VOO) had “very good” first halves, fueled by Nvidia’s (NVDA) 149.5% return and a 37% jump for the Magnificent 7 group of stocks - (NVDA), (AMZN), (AAPL), (GOOG)(GOOGL), (META), (MSFT), (TSLA), he said.
Dollar-denominated spot gold (XAUUSD:CUR) and copper (HG1:COM) posted returns of nearly 13% each. The Russell 2000 (RTY)(IWM) small-cap stocks index, meanwhile, returned just 1.7% in H1, and fell 3.3% in Q2.
The worst-performing asset of H1 were French government bonds known as OATS, as they fell 6.8% in dollar-denominated terms. French assets dropped in Q2 after French President Emmanuel Macron announced snap parliamentary elections, Reid said.
Here’s DB Research’s chart of the day: