The writer is a former chief investment strategist at Bridgewater AssociatesThe latest US inflation data has reinforced market expectations that a Goldilocks-style soft landing will emerge in the year ahead, with the Federal Reserve able to ease monetary policy despite a relatively strong labour market.

In such a scenario, it would be reasonable if investors favoured stocks and even bonds over gold. Historically, zero-yielding gold has tended to perform better in the “tails” of the economic-cycle bell curve, either into a recessionary environment with low and falling interest rates and elevated uncertainty or an environment of economic overheating with high and rising inflation.

Looking at the year ahead, however, there are at least three factors that could help gold keep its lustre, even if hopes of a soft landing are realised. Central banks suggest they intend to add more gold to their reserves, and China’s central bank in particular has room to do so. In addition, the ongoing property deleveraging in China, weighing down on the country’s economy and domestic assets, may keep Chinese households looking to gold as a preferred store of wealth. Finally, investors broadly may want to increase gold allocations as a hedge against an unusually busy political calendar that could exacerbate an already unsettled geopolitical backdrop.