Goldman Sachs sees potential in Asian stocks, urges commodity diversification

Goldman Sachs just laid out its second-half playbook, and it reads like a love letter to Asia and hard assets. In a note dated June 29, the bank recommended overweight exposure to North Asian equities while urging investors to diversify into commodities, specifically copper and gold, as hedges against a world that keeps getting more complicated.

Goldman made zero references to digital assets in its latest strategic outlook, doubling down on traditional commodities as the preferred inflation hedge and risk management tool.

The Asia bet and commodity price targets

Goldman’s bullish thesis centers on North Asia, with the bank maintaining overweight positions in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and China’s domestic A-share market. The preferred sectors are technology hardware, capital goods, and banking.

On commodities, the numbers are specific. Goldman projects copper reaching $13,735 per ton by the end of 2026, driven by what the bank describes as tightening supply meeting surging demand from power grids, AI infrastructure, and defense applications. Gold, meanwhile, gets a $4,900 per ounce price target for the same timeframe.

Why commodities over crypto

Goldman’s explicit preference for traditional commodities as inflation protection is a strategic statement. The bank characterized copper as its top industrial metal pick, citing demand from electrification, AI data centers, and military spending. Gold gets the safe-haven nod. Crypto gets the silent treatment.

When the bank tells its institutional clients to diversify into commodities, those clients tend to listen. Capital that might otherwise explore digital asset allocations could instead flow toward resource-focused investments, commodity ETFs, and mining equities.

What this means for investors

Goldman is essentially saying: invest in the physical layer of the AI buildout, not the digital one. The fact that one of Wall Street’s most prominent institutions still excludes crypto from its strategic asset allocation notes suggests that institutional adoption, while progressing through ETFs and custody solutions, hasn’t yet penetrated the core portfolio construction advice that drives the largest capital flows.

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