HardAssetsInvestor

Written by Brad Zigler  |

February 25, 2009

Gold’s Devilish Advocate

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HardAssetsInvestor.com's managing editor weighs whether the yellow metal will top out again.

• The dollar/gold dyad
• Speculative aggressiveness
• The overbought market

 

In certain circles I'm known as a curmudgeon. Yeah, that's right. Crusty, irascible and cantankerous. Hard to believe, isn't it?

The funny thing is that people on both sides of the hard assets spectrum share that point of view. To so-called gold bugs, my under-exuberance for wildly optimist gold forecasts is anathema. Monetarists, on the other hand, grouse about my metering of the dollar's value against bullion.

No matter what side you line up on, you can't have ignored the $300 rally in gold prices since late October. For the February COMEX contract, that amounts to a 46% increase; pretty much a replay of the run-up that ended last March. That should prompt you to wonder about the odds of gold topping out again.

No doubt, the answer to that depends upon your gold Weltanschauung. But let's play devil's advocate for the moment. What factors argue for a gold sell-off? Or, at least, for keeping a lid on the metal's ascendance?

 

The Dollar/Gold Dyad

This year, the dollar's provided as much refuge for worried investors as gold. Ordinarily, there's an inverse relationship between gold and the dollar. In the current global disinflationary environment, though, the greenback is proving to be the best nonmetallic haven for global capital. Rising dollar interest rates will enhance the buck's attractiveness. At least until a cyclical reflation of the currency. Yes, there will be a lot of dollars out there. But right now, there are a lot of representations of the dollar-bills, notes and bonds-awaiting redemption.

The dollar's prior inflationary pace was braked well before the price of gold peaked last March. We've yet to see the leading edge of reflation.

 

U.S. Monetary Inflation And Gold

 

Dollar interest rates bottomed just before the Obama inauguration and have steadily gained ground since then. Rising rates are like lipstick: A judicious dose can enhance the beauty of a currency; too much, and it looks tawdry. There's nothing tawdry, though, about the 18-point rise in the dollar LIBOR over the last month. It's sustainable and makes the buck even more attractive.

 

Dollar Interest And Gold Lease Rates

 

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