7.1.26 - The calm before the storm?

7.1.26 - The calm before the storm?

Gold last traded at $4,036 an ounce. Silver at $59.03 an ounce.

Robert Kiyosaki makes stunning prediction on gold and silver prices -Yahoo! Finance

by Robert Frank

Where has the bullion bull gone, and will it return? Investors are likely wondering.

Gold was already limping along when the Federal Reserve's new chair, Kevin Warsh, handed the market a hawkish message earlier this month, driving Wall Street to pencil in the possibility of higher interest rates and sending precious metals to fresh lows. The Fed's redoubled commitment to taming inflation took some shine off gold because yield-bearing assets such as Treasury notes tend to be relatively more attractive in high interest-rate environments.

Spot gold prices, recently at around $4,033 per troy ounce, have fallen about 7% since the beginning of the year and are down 28% from their January record of $5,600. Silver, whose rally was even more powerful than gold's last year, is down roughly 50% from its all-time high of around $122, and off 17% year-to-date. Those losses are a stark contrast to the performance of the precious metals last year, when gold and silver gained about 65% and 150%, respectively, and were among the top performing financial assets.