Annual performance: Gold tops most indices

It is widely known that gold, beyond its function as a safe haven and inflation hedge, also improves risk-adjusted portfolio returns. For the past several decades, the precious metal has also been considered a serious source of income for well-diversified investor portfolios. Is this reputation justified? A comparison of the annual performance of gold with major European and US stock indices between 2000 and 2024 provides an answer to precisely this question.  

Positive gold performance in 21 out of the last 25 years

Since the turn of the millennium, there have only been four years in which the precious metal suffered a loss at the end of the year. Most of these losses were minimal, with the exception of 2013, when the US dollar gold price declined 28 per cent over the course of the year. This did not, however, harm its long-term performance. According to the Monthly Gold Compass August 2025, the gold price has risen 1,044 per cent in the US and 910 per cent in the Eurozone since the year 2000. The global average performance of gold over the last 25 years across all currency areas is 1,164 per cent.

Significantly more year-end losses for benchmark stock indices since the turn of the millennium:

• Seven for the German benchmark index DAX
• Eleven for the French CAC 40 index  
• Nine for the EURO STOXX 50 index 

US indices have seen a similar development since 2000:

• The S&P 500 index closed the year with a loss seven times
• The Dow Jones index eight times
• The NADAQ six times

Furthermore, the overall performance of stock indices over the 25-year-period since 2000 were often weaker than that of gold:

• The DAX has risen 310 per cent
• The EURO STOXX 16 per cent
• The S&P 500 484 per cent

These figures show that gold can certainly offer attractive returns to a portfolio.

Source: All data, unless otherwise indicated, from www.boerse.de