GOLD AND US TREASURIES
The price of gold early Friday morning this past week touched $1720. At that level it was down $350 per ounce from its high point of $2070 last August.
The size of the decline is not unusual at face value. But, in light of the expectations for hugely higher inflation rates and much higher gold prices that have dominated the headlines over the past year, the drop might signal a cause for concern among gold bulls.
Meanwhile, eyes are fixed on interest rates for US Treasury bonds. During the same six-month period (August 2020 – February 2021) during which the price of gold fell by seventeen percent, the price of the 20-year US Treasury bond fell by twenty percent. That IS a huge deal, as it corresponds to sharply higher interest rates from less than 1% last August to as high as 2.26% just the other day.
The rush to proclaim correlation between interest rates and gold has resumed. Also, warnings and predictions of much higher inflation from around the globe are increasing.
As we have said on several occasions, there is no correlation between gold and interest rates (see Gold And Interest Rates – There Is No Correlation).
This can be seen on the charts below. The first chart (source) is a history of gold prices over the past fifty-six years and the second chart (source) is a history of interest rates over the same time period…
GOLD PRICES 1965-2021
10 YEAR US TREASURY RATE 1965-2021
During the 1970s, the price of gold rose from $40 per ounce to an intraday peak of $850. All throughout that time, the interest rate on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose higher and higher; from approximately 4% to 12.5%.
However, during the years 2000-2011, while the price of gold rose from $250 to $1900, interest rates on the 10-year US Treasury bond dropped from 6% to 2%.
The two decade-long periods provide contradictory results for the argument that lower interest rates are correlated to higher gold prices.
And for those who argue that the higher rates we are currently seeing are an indication of significantly higher inflation, then why is the gold price declining?
The higher interest rates are possibly a market reaction to the brutal effects of infinite credit creation and interest rate manipulation by the Federal Reserve.
The entire world economy is funded with cheap credit and most economic activity is dependent on it. The prices for all financial assets misrepresent and grossly exaggerate any underlying fundamental value.
Higher rates might trigger a credit collapse so severe that any asset could decline in price by fifty percent or more.
As for gold, it would also decline – to a level commensurate with whatever strength the US dollar attains.
Kelsey Williams is the author of two books: INFLATION, WHAT IT IS, WHAT IT ISN’T, AND WHO’S RESPONSIBLE FOR IT and ALL HAIL THE FED!