The snap UK election in June and the second round of voting in France in May are galvanising investors to buy physical gold to protect against the uncertain election outcomes, according to investment firm The Pure Gold Company.

Chief executive Josh Saul said: “This past week has seen a surge in gold buyers, and this morning especially, our clients are looking to take advantage of a drop in the gold price as the French presidential polls favour moderate candidate Emmanuel Macron.”

“People purchasing gold this morning and taking advantage of a lower price remember that Clinton lead Trump in the polls and the Remain camp led over the Leave voters. The polls have been an unreliable indicator in the last few momentous votes and the general sentiment is that if people can find a way to hedge themselves with gold at a discount then they will heed the opportunity. We've seen many clients who purchased last week place orders this morning in order to reduce the overall average price that they have bought at.”

“43% of people purchasing gold have been first time investors who say their motivations for buying gold is to remove exposure to equities. They’re worried that a Marine Le Pen victory in France, uncertainty over the UK's general election in June or an escalation in hostilities between N Korea and US could result in a considerable decline in global stocks. People are purchasing gold as a hedge against these events occurring whilst hoping that they don't. This is especially true for retirees. We have seen a 105% increase in people purchasing physical gold through their SIPP or Pension in the last seven days to protect their investments from election uncertainty.

“Our largest order last week was a single purchase of £1.3m of 1oz gold Britannia's. The client was driven to invest in gold by "elections everywhere he looks." He is convinced that somewhere, at some point (soon), there will be a crash and he wants to ensure that some of his wealth has been removed from the financial system. His motivation is not to make money but instead to protect himself against financial volatility. Still, he does believe that the gold price will perform similarly to last year, and he wants to ensure that if the value of his gold grows he manages this growth in a tax efficient manner, hence his preference for tax free UK gold coins.”

(Source: The Pure Gold Company)

The updated lodging forecast released  by PwC US notes that strong industry performance in the fourth quarter of 2016, including encouraging trends in demand and average daily rate (ADR), coupled with a post-election surge in consumer and business sentiment that contributed to improving economic conditions, sets the stage for continued revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth in 2017.

PwC expects the increase in supply of hotel rooms to marginally outpace growth in demand, resulting in a decline in occupancy to 65.3%. Aided by an expected increase in corporate transient demand, growth in average daily rate is expected to drive a RevPAR increase of 2.3%, according to the report.

PwC's outlook is based on an economic forecast from IHS Markit, which expects real GDP to increase 2.3 percent in 2017, measured on a fourth-quarter-over-fourth-quarter basis, approximately 50 basis points higher than in PwC's November forecast. Improving economic conditions are driven by a number of factors, including improving business and consumer confidence, and surging financial markets, as well as potential policy decisions related to tax cuts and changes to trade regulations.

The updated estimates from PwC are based on a quarterly econometric analysis of the US lodging sector, using an updated forecast released by IHS Markit and historical statistics supplied by STR and other data providers.

"Based on a strong fourth quarter, we are encouraged by the trends we are seeing as we head into 2017," said Scott D. Berman, principal and U.S. industry leader, hospitality & leisure, PwC. "However, we remain cautiously optimistic, as higher-than-previously anticipated increase in demand is still expected to be offset by increasing supply through the year."

(Source: PwC US)