On the morning of December 22, spot gold (London gold spot) surged past the historical record of $4381.484 per ounce set on October 20, reaching a new high of $4380.290 per ounce as of the time of this report, an increase of nearly 1%. Wind data shows that the annual increase in spot gold has exceeded 65%.

The terminal market is also heating up, with Chow Tai Fook's gold jewelry quoted at 1368 yuan per gram, up 8 yuan per gram from the 20th; Lao Miao gold jewelry is quoted at 1367 yuan per gram, up 6 yuan per gram from the 20th.

Lu Zhe, chief economist at Dongwu Securities, pointed out that the strengthening of gold prices this year is the result of multiple engines resonating: first, global central banks continuing the trend of gold purchases since 2022, laying a solid foundation for a gold bull market; second, ongoing geopolitical risks and uncertainties in tariff policies; third, the financial market's repricing of the Federal Reserve's interest rate cut cycle and debt issues.

Data from the World Gold Council confirms market enthusiasm, with global physical gold ETF inflows reaching $5.2 billion in November, marking six consecutive months of net inflows; as of the end of November, the total asset management scale has increased to $530 billion, a month-on-month growth of 5.4%, with total holdings rising 1% to 3932 tons, both refreshing historical peaks. This year, the inflow scale of global gold ETFs is expected to achieve the best annual performance.

Lu Zhe emphasized that the trend of central bank gold purchases remains unchanged, the global process of de-dollarization and geopolitical fragmentation continues, and the fiscal and debt risks of major economies persist, suggesting that the demand for gold as a credit hedge may further expand, with the core logic of the bull market remaining intact.