It’s easy to be early after a correction I always get pretty excited during a stock market correction, assuming I have positioned correctly with cash on hand. This market showed so many signs of toppiness, extreme optimism, and high valuations that hopefully many investors at least were selling the highly valued names they owned. My […]
All four precious metals saw a down day on Monday, March 5. Gold, silver, platinum, and palladium were down 0.23%, 0.33%, 0.31%, and 0.81%, respectively.
The global markets trended higher in the week ended January 26, 2018, despite confusing messages from global leaders at Davos and the central banks of Europe and Japan.
During the week ended January 19, 2018, global markets trended higher despite the possibility of a US government shutdown. The potential shutdown pushed volatility up.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average appreciated ~1.6% for the week ended January 12, 2018, while the S&P 500 (SPY) returned ~1.3%. The tech-heavy NASDAQ (QQQ) posted a weekly gain of ~1.4%.
Bitcoin has steadily fallen in price since the holidays began, but it looks stationary from yesterday. Bitcoin prices have been almost flat over the past 24 hours.
The US stock markets were closed on Thursday, November 23, 2017, for Thanksgiving, and the next day (Black Friday) was quite slow for precious metals. Gold played in a narrow range that day.
Besides the impact of interest rates, there are also other global indicators that could play on precious metals—the most important being the US dollar.
North Korean tensions Like the US dollar, global tensions can be responsible for precious metal price fluctuations. North Korea has interpreted US president Donald Trump’s comments as a declaration of war, stating that Pyongyang has the right to take countermeasures, including shooting down US bombers outside of its airspace. The ongoing unrest in the Korean peninsula has led to a global […]
Precious metals have been buoyed by tension in North Korea. If North Korea does another missile test, it could prompt investors to move to haven assets such as gold, silver, Treasuries, and major currencies.
The key reason for the debt ceiling deal was to approve aid to Hurricane Harvey victims. A US government shutdown could have adversely impacted relief operations.
The governing council of the European Central Bank (or ECB) is scheduled to meet on September 7 in Frankfurt, Germany. The meeting will be followed by a press conference.
The US Federal Open Market Committee (or FOMC) is scheduled to meet on September 19 and 20 to discuss the current economic climate in the US and to decide whether any monetary policy adjustments are necessary.
August was a volatile month, filled with economic, political, and geopolitical uncertainty. September could turn out to be another nail-biter for the financial markets.
Gold futures for September expiration have risen ~3.9% over the past one-month period. Silver, platinum, and palladium have followed the same track as gold.
Renewed tensions arising out of North Korea’s missile launch on Tuesday had a major impact on volatility. Asian markets have declined more than 1% as risk aversion dominated markets.
Gold saw its second straight day of increases on Thursday, July 27, as it hit its six-week high level of $1,266.2 an ounce to close at $1,261.5 per ounce.
In this series, we’ll analyze how different asset classes in the financial markets have reacted to the sector rotation in the equity markets and the hawkish tone of central bankers.
UK election Last week, safe-haven bids were spurred and precious metal prices surged. The attack in London the weekend prior and the UK elections affected precious metals. Hedge funds and money managers had poured money into gold for two straight weeks, boosting it to its highest level in nearly a month. As of June 8, gold and […]
Market volatility World market volatility is one of the most significant contributors to the variations seen in precious metals, including silver. Silver is also sometimes closely associated with equity markets, as it used as an industrial metal. Although the volatility index was stagnant early this year, it moved upward after the failure of President Trump’s healthcare […]
Risk aversion is on the rise again as investors begin to question President Trump’s trade policies and as we’ve begun to see changes in asset allocations.
During December’s end 2016 and January 2017, Stanley Druckenmiller once again became keen on gold, maybe due to the rising unrest following the election of President Donald Trump.
Higher Rates Not Always Negative for Gold A Fed rate hike in December appears almost fully priced in already. The common argument is that higher rates are negative for gold given that it is a non-yielding asset. Yet, following the first rate hike of the current tightening cycle in December 2015, gold has advanced more […]
One of the dominant financial trends of the past decade has been a move by investors out of actively managed funds and into passively managed index funds or exchange traded funds (ETFs).
Minimum volatility funds have outperformed broader markets in the long term. By limiting the downside during the troughs of a volatile market, the minimum volatility index is better able to capitalize on rebounds.
Don’t panic when financial news headlines jump out at you. If you’re ready to remain invested for the long term, you could see better returns in equities compared to other asset classes.
The high volatility regime will likely be the norm in the future. State Street observed that the US market has already clocked 42 highly volatile days in 2015.
In its recent meeting, a dovish Fed pointed out that the “uncertainties abroad” made it risky to raise the policy rate and announced its decision to leave the federal funds rate unchanged at 0%–0.25%.
