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Wall Street analysts expect gold's rally to keep going in 2025 after the precious metal saw its biggest annual jump in 14 years.

On Thursday, gold futures ( GC=F ) jumped more than 1% to hover above $2,670 an ounce, their highest level since mid-December, as investors welcomed a new year with expectations of at least a couple more Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and more bullion purchases by foreign central banks.

Although the precious metal's rally stalled following Donald Trump’s White House victory in November, gold still closed out the year with a gain of over 27%, beating the S&P 500's ( ^GSPC ) gain of more than 23%.

Heading into 2025, JPMorgan analysts wrote, “We maintain our multi-year bullish outlook on gold for a third year in a row,” adding, “gold still looks well situated to hedge the elevated levels of uncertainty around the macro landscape heading into the initial stages of the Trump administration in 2025.”

JPMorgan forecasts gold will rise toward $3,000 per ounce this year.

Goldman Sachs analysts also forecast bullion will reach $3,000 by the end of 2025 amid continued purchases from central banks around the world.

“Surveys and history suggest that EM [emerging markets'] central banks buy gold as a hedge against financial and geopolitical shocks,” the analysts wrote last month.

The firm sees gold rising to $3,050 if central banks purchase more bullion than expected. It also said prices could stall at $2,900 if the Federal Reserve decides to only cut interest rates one more time this year.

Recent sticky inflation prints have raised questions over how quickly the central bank can bring down the cost of borrowing. Economists view some of the policies proposed by the Trump administration, such as higher tariffs, as potentially driving up the pace of price increases.

If the Fed lowers rates at least two more times, some market watchers anticipate retail investors could be pulled from the sidelines as they aim to preserve wealth and hedge their portfolios.

“The retail investor in the US did not really participate in 2024 all that much," Steven Feldman, co-founder and CEO of GBI, a physical precious metals platform, told Yahoo Finance.

"If interest rates were to decrease a bit, or there’s more pick up in inflation or stagflation, I think US investor retail investor flows should be good so that will be supportive," he said.

@ines_ferre .