Gold as a Commodity (via Crossing Wallstreet)

Great overview and background on Gold as a Commodity over at Crossing Wallstreet.

The summary for current investors is…

My view is that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates earlier than expected. I don’t know exactly when that will be but it will put gold on a dangerous path. For now, my advice is to stay away from gold, either long or short.

… but you should read the whole thing for a lot of interesting tidbits on the history of gold and how to track and trade it. Here’s another quote from the article, but you should really read the whole damn thing.

Here’s a good rule of thumb. Gold goes up anytime real rates on short-term U.S. debt are below 2% (or are perceived to stay below 2%). It will fall if real rates rise above 2%. When rates are at 2%, then gold holds steady. That’s not a perfect relationship but I want to put it in an easy why for new investors to grap. This also helps explain why we’re in the odd situation today of seeing gold rise even though inflation is low. It’s not the inflation, it’s the low real rates that gold likes.