In the weeks leading up to the December Federal Reserve rate hike, the price of gold fell and most mainstream analysts were bearish on the yellow metal. After all, rising interest rates are bad for gold. right? But we took a contrarian position, saying the negative relationship between rising interest rates and the price of gold is really more of a “sell the rumor, buy the fact” phenomenon.
As it turns out, we were right. In the weeks since the Federal Open Market Committee nudged the interest rate up another 25 basis points on Dec. 13, gold has outperformed most other major assets.
The SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast combines a succinct summary of the week’s precious metals news coupled with thoughtful analysis. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
On Dec. 31, 2016, the price of gold stood at 1,156.00. Today, it is knocking on the $1,300 mark. The yellow metal is on track to gain about 12% in 2017, its best year since 2010. Gold has made these gains despite a number headwinds that we would expect to put a significant drag on gold.
Here are seven major themes that have driven gold news over the past year.
The SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast combines a succinct summary of the week’s precious metals news coupled with thoughtful analysis. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
The SchiffGold Friday Gold Wrap podcast combines a succinct summary of the week’s precious metals news coupled with thoughtful analysis. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
The last few weeks have been tough on gold. If you have a short-term mentality, you might even think the gold market has gone bearish. But as World Gold Council chief market strategist John Reade pointed out in a piece he wrote for the December issue of WGC Gold Investor, 2017 has been good for gold. And he sees some key reasons to believe 2018 will be as well.
The December Federal Open Market Committee meeting went pretty much according to scrip.
Analysts widely expected the Fed to raise rates by .25. It did. Analysts also expected the Fed to signal three more hikes in 2018. It did that too.
Gold went up, as we said it probably would, hitting a one-week high in the wake of the rate hike as investors “bought the fact.”
Peter Schiff recently appeared on RT Boom Bust to talk gold and silver.
Gold has struggled over the last few weeks with a looming Federal Reserve rate hike and the specter of tax cuts on the horizon weighing precious metals down. Peter said he thinks this is something of a seasonal lull and he expects the price to bounce back in the first part of 2018.
Bitcoin mania is in full force.
When I get to my desk in the morning, the first thing I do is check the latest gold news. But lately, when I google the word “gold,” I mostly get Bitcoin news. In his most recent podcast, Peter Schiff even suggested CNBC should rename its network the “Crypto News Bitcoin Network.”
Many analysts have suggested Bitcoin is replacing gold. In fact, an article on CoinTelegraph reported that some investors are actually dumping their yellow metal in favor of Bitcoin. During a recent interview on CNBC. RJO Futures’ Phillip Streible declared that “Bitcoin has stolen a large market share of gold.” There is at least some anecdotal evidence backing this up.
There is one thing Republicans and Democrats should agree about – buy gold.
But like everything else, the yellow metal has become politicized. If you believe the stereotype, only people on the right buy gold. A recent article by Martin Tiller at Nasdaq.com highlighted the phenomenon.
