In my more than 35 years of investing in hard assets, precious metals and mining, I’ve learned to manage my expectations of gold’s short-term price action. Sure, there have been surprises along the way, but generally, the yellow metal has behaved relatively predictably to two macro drivers, the Fear Trade and Love Trade.
Last year, gold had its best first half of the year in decades, all in response to Fear Trade factors such as low to negative global government bonds and geopolitical risks, specifically Brexit and the upcoming U.S. election.