Gold's Many Uses

Including a place in your portfolio perhaps...

HERE at US Global Investors we carefully monitor the price of gold, writes Frank Holmes at, well, US Global Investors!

We pay close attention to the macro drivers moving the yellow metal, like government policy and cultural affinity spurring demand globally. We also monitor the micro drivers, like company management and quant factors that make one gold stock superior to the next.

Gold's qualities make it one of the most coveted metals in the world and a popular gift in the form of jewelry – this is what I call the Love Trade. From the beginning of the Indian wedding season in September until Chinese New Year in February, the price of gold tends to rise due to higher demand from the two biggest consumers of gold, China and India.

On the other hand is the Fear Trade, driven by negative real interest rates and the fear of poor government or central bank policies that could result in currency devaluation or inflation.

This fear triggers people to buy gold as a hedge against possible negative returns in other asset classes, which in turn, pushes the gold price higher.

We believe gold is an essential part of a portfolio due to its history as a protector against inflation. I've always recommended a 10% weighting in the metal, 5% in gold bullion or jewelry, and 5% in gold stocks, mutual funds and ETFs.

In fact, current economic conditions make an even greater case for gold.

The stock market is still on a historic bull run, and the tax reform bill is helping ratchet up share prices. It's important to remember that the precious metal has historically shared a low-to-negative correlation with equities. For the past 30 years, the average correlation between the LBMA gold price and the S&P 500 Index has been negative 0.06.

Gold has also performed competitively against many asset classes over the past few decades, as seen in the chart above. This makes the metal, we believe, an appealing diversifier in the event of a correction in the capital markets or an end to the bull market.