The current financial turmoil period, has made gold a safe haven.
As the credit crisis of subprime issue further aggravates, the international financial markets reached into a further bleak period. The current financial turmoil period, has made gold a Safe Haven.
The US economy is in a downturn period with the dollar depreciating further, interest rates which have also declined further. Despite all relief measures the economic data has been weak. The silver and palladium volatilities jumped to 70 percent in late March, and the S&P 500 index volatility rose to 29 percent. More than a quarter of a million people lost their jobs in the US during the first quarter. Retail sales in the US declined by 0.6 percent month-over-month in February, as households spent less money on items such as cars and eating out.
All the above have made gold the safest investment and this resulted in the prices of gold reaching a new record of $1011/0z (on the London PM fix) on March 17, 2008. Investors bought 72 tonnes of gold in exchange-traded funds in Q1 FY 08, taking total holdings to 943 tonnes ($28 billion) at the end of March. Gold price volatility rose to a quarterly peak of 28 percent on March 20; however, equities and other commodities volatile spiked even higher during the quarter. Gold – and commodities in general – continue to outperform bond and equity markets throughout the Q1 FY 08.