Safehaven | Gold Rises to New Record Price

October 07, 2009

Gold Rises to New Record Price
by David Shvartsman

Image courtesy of Bullion Vault

Certainly one of the biggest stories of yesterday's market action is carrying over to today; gold's breakout to new record highs.

We spoke quite a bit about gold in yesterday's Twitter stream, noting that gold's latest upsurge has come amidst a global tide of inflationary worry and growing anti-fiat money sentiment. This is quite remarkable, as much of gold's rise this decade was, previously, widely perceived as a "weak dollar story".

Reuters shares this quote from gold watcher and newsletter writer, Dennis Gartman:

"Gold's rise is not a dollar phenomenon but an "anti-currency" phenomenon as money is flowing away from almost any and all currencies.".

Interestingly enough, today's coverage from the Financial Times seems to take an opposing tack, quoting an analyst who noted the lagging performance of gold in euro terms:

Eugen Weinberg of Commerzbank said: "The fact that the rally of gold prices is mainly attributable to the weak US dollar at the moment is clear if we look at the price of gold in euro terms. At €710 a troy ounce, this is still 10 per cent lower than the all-time peak recorded in February 2009."

However, Bloomberg's article coverage of gold's new price highs yesterday cited inflation as a mounting global concern, alongside quotes from analysts and investors who noted the metal was acting as "a hedge against all currencies".

It's been a while since we covered the gold market in depth, but then a round of all-time highs usually seems to get everyone's attention. For more on the subject, please have a look at these previous gold commentaries in the related articles section below.

Related articles and posts:

1. John Paulson, hedge funds move into gold - Finance Trends.
2. Gold's place as a reserve currency - Gillian Tett via Gata.org.
3. Gold hits all-time highs (Jan. 2008 roundup) - Financial Sense.
4. The Invisible Crash: book review - Financial Sense.

David Shvartsman
Finance Trends Matter