Gold Up 12%, Silver Up 11% YTD As Stocks Crash … Again
Gold jumped 2 percent to a 7-1/2-month high yesterday, briefly touching the psychological level of $1,200 an ounce. Falling bank shares and stock markets and worries over global economic growth and a new financial crisis prompted investors to seek the safety of gold.
After surging over 5% last week, gold and silver continue to move higher as concerns about the U.S. and global economy saw more sharp stock market falls and reduced expectations of the Fed increasing interest rates.
Gold finished the week at $1,173.40 an ounce and has built on those gains today rising another 0.4% to $1,178.10 an ounce – taking its year-to-date gain to 11 per cent.
Stocks had another torrid week with the S&P 500 falling 3.1% and the Nasdaq down 5.4% while gold rose by 5.04% and silver by 5.4%. Gold had its best week since July 2013.
Technically, gold is looking better and better and the gains last week were the third consecutive week of gains. The weekly higher close above the 200 day moving average ($1,129/oz) is leading to increasing conviction that gold prices have bottomed and we are in the early stages of a new bull market.
Momentum buyers and trend following funds are again making the “trend their friend.” This is seen in the increase in gold ETF holdings which have increased now for 15 consecutive days as retail and institutional investors diversify into gold to protect from increasing market volatility and concerns of new bear markets in stocks.
Gold has seen similar gains in euro and larger gains in sterling terms (+13% year to date) again showing gold’s currency hedging properties.
LBMA Gold Prices
8 Feb: USD 1,173.40, EUR 1,050.16 and GBP 810.44 per ounce
5 Feb: USD 1,158.50, EUR 1,035.58 and GBP 797.40 per ounce
4 Feb: USD 1,146.25, EUR 1,027.29 and GBP 782.16 per ounce
3 Feb: USD 1,130.00, EUR 1,034.04 and GBP 781.25 per ounce
2 Feb: USD 1,123.60, EUR 1,029.65 and GBP 780.01 per ounce
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