Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Increased Gold Holding In Q4
(Kitco News)- Ray Dalio has waded deeper into the gold market as his hedgefund, Bridgewater Associates, increased its position in two of the world’slargest gold-backed exchange traded funds in the fourth quarter, according tofiling with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The filings show that the Hedge fund, which manages about$150 billion in global assets, increased its holdings in SPRD Gold Shares(NYSE: GLD) by 14,091 shares, boosting its investment to around 3.91 millionshares. At the same time, the hedge fund bought 34,792 shares of iShares GoldTrust (NSYE: IAU), increasing its total holding in the ETF to 11.32 millionshares.
The firm’s increased exposure to gold came at the perfecttime as gold prices rallied 1.8% during the final quarter of 2017. Most of thegains in gold were seen in December as the precious metal surged following theFederal Reserve’s third rate hike of the year.
Gold’s rally continued into the new year as the metal roseto a 1.5-month high late-January. Currently, gold prices are up almost 9% fromits December low. Investors are still digesting gold’s 2% rally during Wednesday’ssession, driven by renewed technical momentum.
However, the latest report only includes positioning as ofthe end of December; the hedge fund could have changed its gold holdings sincethe report deadline.
Dalio made headlines in 2017 as he recommended investorshave a 5% to 10% exposure to gold in their portfolio. He continues to see goldas an important diversifier as the risks of a recession rise.
“What we do know is that we are in the part of the cycle in which thecentral banks’ getting monetary policy right is difficult and that this timearound the balancing act will be especially difficult (given all thestimulation into capacity constraints and given the long durations of assetsand a number of other factors) so that the risks of a recession in the next18-24 months are rising,” he wrote in a post on LinkedIn earlier this week.
By Neils ChristensenFor Kitco News
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