Citigroup (C) Declares: Gold’s Bull Run Has Crashed – Here’s Why
Gold's glitter fades as Citigroup pulls the plug on the rally narrative. The metal's safe-haven status? Questionable at best in today's crypto-dominated volatility.
Wall Street's latest flip-flop
Analysts at Citi just downgraded gold faster than a DeFi token in a bear market. Their reasoning? A perfect storm of rising real yields and Bitcoin ETFs sucking up all the 'store of value' demand.
The institutional pivot no one saw coming
While goldbugs were stacking bars, smart money was loading up on digital assets. Now the old guard faces its reckoning – turns out 'digital gold' was the real gold all along.
Another win for the crypto thesis: hard assets lose when hard money tech wins. But hey, at least gold's 5,000-year head start gave it a good run.
Confident Investing Starts Here:
- Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions
- Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter
Max Layton, global commodities head at Citi Research, predicts Gold will trade at about $2,500 to $2,700 by the second half of 2026, down about $900 from current levels. “Our call is very much a 2026 bearish gold call,” said Layton in a television interview. “Near term, we have it averaging around $3,200 in the third quarter and $3,000 in the fourth quarter.”
Gold is currently trading at $3,360.50 per ounce and is up more than 70% over the past two years. Earlier this spring, gold’s price ROSE above $3,500 an ounce for the first time, hitting an all-time high in the process. Geopolitical instability and macroeconomic uncertainty have sent investors scurrying for the safety of gold.
At the same time, central banks around the world are increasing their gold holdings to record levels, further driving up the price of bullion.
Downside Risks
Layton acknowledges that people are buying gold to hedge against downside risks and are worried about slowing economic growth and global turmoil. However, the leading commodities analyst says he expects a drop in gold’s price in coming months due to weakening demand and a U.S. interest rate cut.
Any signs of strength in the U.S. economy could also lead to capital flowing out of gold and moving back into riskier assets such as equities and cryptocurrencies, notes Layton. Lastly, the analyst said that if U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic stimulus bill is approved in Congress, it will reorient investors back to American growth and away from gold.
Citigroup’s outlook stands in contrast to other Wall Street firms. Goldman Sachs (GS), for example, forecasts that the price of gold will rise to $3,700 by late 2025 and $4,000 by mid-2006 due to continued central bank buying. Bank of America (BAC) also sees gold’s price hitting $4,000 in 2026 amid ongoing geopolitical upheaval. C stock has gained 13% this year.
Is C Stock a Buy?
The stock of Citigroup has a consensus Moderate Buy rating among 14 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 10 buy and four Hold recommendations issued in the last three months. The average C price target of $88.75 implies 12.34% upside from current levels.
