Prins says gold still headed to $6,000 despite selloff

AI desk brief

Nomi Prins says the recent gold and silver pullback is a paper-market correction rather than a break in underlying physical demand, and she still sees gold reaching $6,000/oz around year-end. On silver, she reiterated a $120/oz target, arguing the selloff from nearly $122 was triggered by geopolitical stress around the Strait of Hormuz, while the broader market remains in structural deficit and physical buyers in India, the Middle East and China are still struggling to source metal fast enough.

Prins highlighted the scale mismatch between paper trading and the underlying market, saying iShares Silver Trust turnover runs at roughly 5-10 billion ounces a year versus about 820 million ounces mined annually. She also said silver is in its sixth straight annual supply deficit before even accounting for future demand from AI data centers and emerging technologies. Her longer-term bullish case extends to copper, which she expects to reach $7/lb by year-end after a May peak near $6.71/lb, on the view that the market is being driven more by physical supply constraints than speculative flows.

For gold, she argued the macro backdrop remains supportive even if the Fed leaves rates unchanged at the next two meetings, with inflation easing and oil holding in the $70-$80/bbl range. She expects major producers such as Barrick and Newmont to post strong cash flow at current record bullion prices and said miners are likely to deploy capital into junior developers and exploration assets. Near term, the key watchpoints are whether the recent volatility continues to flush out paper length or whether persistent physical tightness reasserts itself across gold and silver.