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Ray Dalio Buys $500 Million In Gold ETFs In Q3
(Kitco News) - Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, put his money where his mouth is as his firm significantly increased its gold holding in the third quarter.
According to Securities and Exchange filings, the investment firm held almost 4 million shares of SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD), the world’s biggest gold-backed exchange-traded product, in the third quarter. The position is valued at more than $470 million. The firm increased is GLD holdings from 577,264 shares bought in the second quarter
At the same time, the firm increased its holding of iShares Gold Trust (NYSE: IAU) to more than 11 million shares, valued at more nearly $139 million. In the second quarter, Bridgewater held more than 3 million shares of IAU.
Bridgewater’s third-quarter report also shows the firm has maintained a stake in many gold mining companies: Anglogold, B2Gold, Barrick Gold, Gold Fields, Goldcorp, Eldorado Gold, Kinross Gold, Kirkland Lake Gold, New Gold, Randgold, Royal Gold and Yamana Gold.
The filing confirms Dalio’s view on gold, as he started recommending investors have between 5% and 10% of the yellow metal in their portfolio.
“Well, first of all, the best way to structure a portfolio is to have the right kind of balance in your portfolio, and some amount of gold. Gold serves a purpose. It is first of all, a diversifier against other assets,” he said in September in an interview with Business Insider.
Dailo, while one of the most high-profile investors, wasn’t alone in buying gold in the third quarter. GLD saw its gold holding increase by 18.36 tonnes.
IAU saw its gold holdings increase by more than 18 tonnes in the third quarter.
The increased interest in gold helped push prices to a one-year high in September. However, the market has not been able to hold onto those gains, with prices trapped in a narrow range between its 100-day and 200-day moving averages for nearly three weeks.
December gold futures last traded at $1,272.60 an ounce, down 0.49% on the day.
