Gold has been one of the investing stories of the year amid rising economic uncertainty for U.S. investors. Whether for tariff, stagflation, or concentration risk, gold has gained interest as a defensive play. Indeed, the price of gold has already risen significantly since the start of the year, nearly doubling since the start of 2024. The ETF wrapper can offer straightforward and direct exposure to physical gold, with low cost gold ETF AAAU providing one notable option.
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The Goldman Sachs Physical Gold ETF (AAAU ) charges just 18 basis points (bps), to track the LBMA Gold PM Price. Specifically, the fund uses U.K.-based gold bars to track the gold spot price. That approach provides a very close tie to the spot price, itself, making the fund an efficient tool to do so.
Performance-wise, the fund has returned 45.79% YTD per ETF Database, beating both its ETF Database Category and Factset Segment averages. Specifically, those averages came in at 40.5% and 25.6%, respectively, as of September 30th. Looking longer term, the fund has also performed. The gold ETF has returned 15.1% over the last five years and 31.9% over the last three. Both those returns beat both averages, as well.
Amid that performance, the gold ETF has added more than half a billion in net inflows YTD. Per ETF Database, AAAU has picked up $557 million in flows since January 1st. While the fund sits below some other gold ETFs by AUM, it also charges a lower fee. AAAU has outperformed the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD ) over the last five years while also charging a fee less than half the cost of GLD’s.
Looking ahead, an ETF like AAAU could, then, make for an interesting addition to portfolios. For those looking at options amid rising uncertainty and potential for volatility, AAAU can intrigue.
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