Gold accumulates a 25% rise so far this year, which adds to the strong increases of 2024, which has led him to renew its historical maximums repeatedly, although in recent months it has stagnated at these levels, waiting for a catalyst that allows him to continue registering profits.
Today the issue is still very discussed. However, there are some facts that deserve even some of a historical nature. This is the case for example of Harvard University Investment Fund that for the first time in history invested in gold. At least, experts in the world metal market who highlight that what was seen in the second quarter was a radical change for the gold market, referring to Harvard’s bet.
It happens that after years ignoring alternative assets, Harvard Management Company (HMC) acquired between April and June actions of the ETF Spdr Gold Shares worth 101.5 million dollarsthe largest bottom in stock backed by gold in the world. It is worth mentioning that it also acquired 1,906 million shares of the Ishares Bitcoin Trust (ibit) of Blackrockvalued at approximately 117 million dollars. An analysis of their shares of shares shows that gold and Bitcoin now represent 15% combined of their portfolio of quoted values. In comparison, at the end of last year, HMC reported an exhibition of only 3% to real assets, with less than 1% to natural resources.
An expert from this market indicated that if more public and donation funds (a sector that, according to the Thinking Ahead Institute of WTWits global value to grow up to a record of 58.5 billion dollars last year) would undoubtedly be very transformative for the gold market, and cryptocurrencies. In its 2025 report, the Institute indicated that pension and donation funds have an average allocation of 45% in shares, 33% in bonds, 20% in other assets and 2% in cash.
It should be noted that these funds operate in the very long term in global financial markets, buy long -term bonds and invest in private capital and private credit markets, which can immobilize capital for decades. They rarely look at the short -term impulse and pay less attention to alternative assets. That is why the HMC move aroused the curiosity of the experts, as to what they see in the global economy that makes gold an attractive investment now.
Of course, while gold has a long career of higher performance than securities marketspension and donation funds have rejected it because it is considered a complicated asset. According to experts, although the managers of these funds recognize the import of diversifying the portfolio, when evaluating why not use gold as a diversification tool, given their history of offering low risk profitability and reducing the shade ratio of a portfolio, managers respond that no one wanted to invest in gold because it cannot be properly valued.
This is a topic that frequently heard during the last decade, since gold has overcome the performance of variable and bond markets. The most concise argument commented against gold was given by a manager who simply, despite recognizing the impressive performance of gold this year, explained that “if it does not have Ebitda, it does not buy it.”
The gold problem is that it is an asset without performanceand its value cannot be measured in the same way as that of an action or a bonus. This is a risk that public fund managers have traditionally refused to assume, apparently until now.
That is why the HMC commitment awakens expectation for a possible domino effect. For now, according to updated 13F documents submitted to the Bag and Securities Commission (SEC)Harvard Management Company acquired 333,000 shares of SPDR Gold Shares, the largest fund quoted in the stock market (ETF) backed by gold in the world, a position valued at 101.5 million dollars.
At the same time, the Harvard fund, which at the end of 2024 had assets under management valued at 53.2 billion dollars, also bought 1,906 million shares of Ishares Bitcoin Trust (ibit) of Blackrock, valued at approximately 117 million dollars. It must be repeated that it is the first time that HMC establishes positions in gold and bitcoin since its birth in 1974.
Harvard’s investment in gold occurs when Global Precious Metal ETFs registered their highest tickets in the first half of the year since 2020 since according to WGC data the Gold holdings of the ETFs increased by 170 tons in the second quarter, which adds to the 227 tons of entries reported in the first quarter.
In addition to its outstanding positions in ETF of Gold and Bitcoin, the last presentation of the HMC form 13F reveals a strong concentration on large capitalization technology values and AI related to AI.
His greatest participation is Microsoft With 623,300 shares, an increase of 48% with respect to the previous quarter, also increased its participation in Nvidiaacquiring 269,000 shares (an increase of 30%), probably driven by the company’s domain in the manufacture of AI chips and its central role in the impulse of generative the infrastructure. Another significant change includes a 10% reduction in Alphabet. The fund also reduced its exposure to Platforms goal In 67% and abandoned positions in Uber and Rubrik, indicating a strategic departure from certain high growth technological companies.
Source: Ambito
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