It’s a banner moment for the gold bugs as it hits $5000 per ounce for the first time. It’s a monster rally since August and includes a 17% rally so far this year.
Despite how impressive that is, it pales in comparison to silver, which is up 48% year-to-date.
It’s all great news if you’re long precious metals or miners and it’s set to continue this week with the strong start. I would expect some profit taking after hitting the big round numbers but maybe not. Silver tagged $100 on Friday and has continued to cruise higher, adding another 5% already. The hard money crowd seems to be shifting out of bitcoin and into precious metals.
If you’re not long metals, then this is worrisome. The global order appears to be breaking down and the violence in Minneapolis on the weekend isn’t conductive to the US calming down any time soon. With that event, we are also seeing rising odds of a US government shutdown over funding to DHS agents.
S&P 500 futures are down 0.35% and the US dollar is lower across the board.
It’s not much better abroad, the military purge from Xi Jinping in China looks like the biggest shakeup since Mao, with the top uniformed general being purged along with other top officials.
In Ukraine, peace talks continue but it’s hard to muster any optimism at this point until there’s some real smoke. Iranian protests seem to have calmed down after a brutal response from the regime while talk of US intervention continues, along with talk of more activity in Cuba and even Mexico.
It’s an uncertain world out there and gold is screaming that louder than ever before.
In terms of price action, we’re at the tail end of a seasonal pull that I’ve been writing about here for 15 years. That’s one reason for caution but if it blows through $5000 without any real profit taking, then it speaks to a one-in-a-lifetime type of momentum trade in precious metals.
This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.