“I’m not a gold bug. I don’t think the world is coming to an end. But I do think inflation is beginning to pick up incipiently at the margins,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Gold is often held as a hedge against inflation, though some investors question its effectiveness as protection against rising prices.

Gold prices have risen about 4.5 percent this year. Moreover, according to the core personal consumption expenditure index gold prices have risen 1.6 percent year over year.