Up till now, China and India have been the leading markets for gold jewelry, accounting for 54% of the global physical take in the first six months of the year. But with the 30% or so collapse in gold's price this year, U.S. consumers are using the opportunity to buy more, too.
Domestic sales are on track to hit their highest level in three years, with industry analysts at Thomson Reuters GFMS seeing fourth quarter demand surging 15% to 20% to reach 44 to 48 tonnes. Because jewelry represents some 43% of global demand for gold, they anticipate it will regain some of the market share it's lost over the past 12 years during gold's massive bull run.