After a disappointing year for gold and silver, investors assume that the bearish trend will reverse in 2022, selecting these two metals as 2022's favourites.

Gold ended the last year with a decline of 3.6%, showing its biggest annual drop since 2015.

Silver ended 2021 with a 11.5% loss, the metal's sharpest collapse since 2014.Despite inflation, both metals failed to gain momentum last year as a strong economic recovery and more aggressive Fed's outlook exerted pressure on prices.

Retail investors expect the bearish trend to end as survey results show that almost half of the participants backed gold, another half backed silver. They are two favourites in 2022.

32.7% out of 1,569 respondents chose gold as their best product for 2022, while another 32.1% chose silver. The third most popular metal in 2022 was copper, with 12.9% of respondents betting on it.

Another 9.2% of respondents chose lithium,

and 6.7% chose bitcoin.

Platinum received just 4.5% support,

followed by palladium with 2%.

The Wall Street experts are also optimistic about gold and silver in the long-term prospects. Analysts reported that gold had considerable potential for gains in combination with higher interest rates, while silver has a chance to recover after lagging gold for several months.

Wells Fargo noted in its forecast that declining stock market returns and inflation concerns could return market focus and flows to gold next year. The US dollar will not be a significant impediment to metal growth.

BofA also pointed to gold's upside potential in 2022 and highlighted the positive outlook for silver and platinum.

Bloomberg Intelligence predicts that gold will outperform other metals in 2022, citing steady trends in favor of the precious metal.

According to InTheMoneyStocks.com market strategist Gareth Soloway, after ignoring inflation concerns for most of 2021, markets are beginning to fear rising price pressures. Besides, a $3,000 gold price target is possible. Moreover, there is a need to monitor inflation figures. However, Soloway does not believe that inflation will return to 2%.

Analysts noted that if gold shows significant gains in 2022, silver has a chance to outperform it.

Perth Mint's manager of listed products and investment research Jordan Eliseo said that the gold-to-silver ratio also pointed to silver outperforming dynamics.

Precious metals expert Everett Millman of Gainesville Coins also believes silver has the best growth prospects in 2022. Besides, this metal is prominent in new technologies and green energy.

Besides, analysts highlighted the platinum growth potential in 2022 due to supply and demand fundamentals.