Gold Set For Best Month Since January As Stock Market Rout Lifts Safe Haven

Last week gold and silver prices fell and gave up some of the gains from the previous week. Gold was 2% lower on Friday and indeed 2% lower for the week and closed at $1134.40 per ounce. Silver was 4.5% lower for the week and closed at $14.59 per ounce but is just 1.8% lower for the month of August.

August has been a tumultuous month with stocks seeing sharp losses and gold has again protected investors from sharp losses. Gold has had a 3.36% gain for the month so far (see table below).

Gold is on track for the best monthly advance since January after most market participants were surprised by the devaluation of China’s currency. This has fueled concerns about further currency wars and about the world’s second-largest economy and indeed the global economy may be vulnerable to a recession – potentially a severe one.

Gold exchange-traded fund holdings rose to a one-month high last week on safe haven demand. The MSCI All-Country World Index of equities is headed for the worst monthly performance since May 2012 and a gauge of 22 raw materials was set to decline for a second month.

Monthly Asset Performance – Finviz.com

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Courtesy of http://www.goldcore.com/