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Gold Prices are Soaring: Here’s Why

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Owning gold is like owning some insurance in your investment portfolio. When times are uncertain, its price may go up while others are going down.

It has always made a great deal of sense to own gold, but now more than ever its price is rising.

Joe Wallace explains why gold’s price is soaring in The Wall Street Journal:

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The main reason is this year’s precipitous drop in yields on U.S. Treasurys to levels below the expected pace of inflation. Unlike bonds or bank deposits, gold doesn’t pay any income. As a result, owning gold means missing out on yields from other assets when interest rates are high. When real yields are negative, gold’s lack of yield becomes a strength.

The Federal Reserve’s March decision to slash interest rates to just above zero and buy hundreds of billions of dollars of bonds has pulled down yields in fixed-income markets, prompting investors to buy gold instead. Some money managers expect inflation to pick up once the economic crunch is over, which would act as a further drag on real yields if nominal rates don’t rise.

Investors are also buying gold because they think it will hold its value if stocks take another tumble. Enthusiasts take this argument a step further, contending that gold is the ultimate insurance policy against a scenario in which the U.S. government defaults or kindles inflation to alleviate the burden of debt.

“Gold is a haven,” said Rhona O’Connell, head of market analysis for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia at StoneX Group. “It doesn’t have anyone else’s political or financial risk associated with it.”

Another tailwind for gold right now is the depreciation in the dollar. Buyers outside the U.S. are willing to pay a higher dollar price when the greenback weakens, making gold cheaper in terms of their home currencies. This relationship doesn’t always hold: Gold and the dollar shot up in tandem in March during a period of turmoil in financial markets.

Gold makes sense as a counterbalancer in your investment portfolio.

For more on gold and protecting your investments, sign up for my monthly Survive & Thrive newsletter by clicking here.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.

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