Sunshine Profits

Yesterday, gold stopped a five-day rally that had pushed it to its highest since mid-May, and lost some of its safe-haven appeal as the chance of imminent U.S. military strikes against Syria seemed to diminish, and investors booked profits.

It seems that everybody is talking about the yellow metal and wondering where will the next local top form.

Last week we illustrated how gold should be treated as a special alternative to dollar denominated paper assets.

According to Bloomberg, the Fed stimulus helped in pushing the S&P 500 up as much as 153% from its March 2009 low, as better-than-estimated corporate earnings also fueled equity gains. Of the 483 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported quarterly earnings this period, 71 percent surpassed profit estimates.

Without a doubt, markets are waiting for the release of minutes from the Fed’s July policy meeting for clues on the timing of stimulus tapering.

According to Reuters, last week India hiked the import duty on gold yet again to a record 10% and raised excise duty on the metal, as imports jumped in July despite the government’s attempts to strangle supply and curb demand to rein in dollar spending.

Last week we focused on the idea that gold is not an inflation hedge.

n our previous essay we focused on silver’s relationship with the general stock market.

According to Reuters, Fed stimulus has helped fuel the S&P’s gain of nearly 19 percent in 2013.

My first article is based our just-released Market Overview (monthly reports).

Without a doubt, the recent weeks were tough for the U.S. currency.

When we take into account last week’s events, it seems that the yellow metal is more sensitive to signs of tapering than any other asset.