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Gold’s safe-haven status is based on hype, not history

By Nico Isaac

As I sat down to watch the Oscar pre-show on Sunday night, March 7, one word was repeatedly used to describe the celebrity starlets and their designer duds: GOLD. Gold bustiers and gold lame skirts, shiny gun-metal dresses and glittery sequined gowns all basking in the golden shadow of the final golden statue.

Everywhere you look, from the Red Carpet to Wall Street, gold is definitely in “fashion.” As for why, one word comes to mind: safe-haven. See, according to the mainstream financial experts, the more unstable the global economy, the greater the appeal for the precious metal.

And, with a staggering 17% unemployment rate in the United States, alongside slumping real estate sales, Eurozone weakness, the Greece debt debacle, and so on — the only thing going up is gold’s supposed disaster premium. Here, take these recent news items for example:

• “Bullion Sales Hit Record In Stampede To Safety.” (Financial Times)
• “Gold Ticks Higher On Safe Haven Buying. The risk trade is resuming.” (AP)
•  “Gold Rose to 6 ½ Week Highs as the metal benefits from fears over financial instability in general. The market is looking for some security with gold.” (Reuters)
• “Gold Rush: This is a new round of safe haven buying.” (Bloomberg)

There’s just one problem: The correlation between a falling economy AND rising gold prices is based solely on hype, NOT history.

Download Robert Prechter’s FREE 40-Page Gold and Silver eBook. Is gold a simple buy-and-hold at today’s prices? The independent insights in this valuable ebook deliver Prechter’s complete analysis and help you decide how to – and how not to – incorporate gold and silver successfully into your own investment strategy. Learn more, and download your Gold and Silver eBook here.

Case in point: In the March 2008 Elliott Wave Theorist (republished in his 40-page Gold and Silver eBook), Elliott Wave International President Bob Prechter presents an indisputable case AGAINST the safe-haven status of gold.

The first piece of evidence: The following table showing gold’s performance during the 11 officially recognized recessions beginning in 1945.

Prechter also plotted the Dow Jones Industrial Average into the same period and made this startling discovery: The average total return for the Dow during recessions since 1945 is 6.89%. Taking into account modern transaction costs, the Dow actually beats gold with a 6.87% return.

The most powerful myth-debunking punch of all, though, came via the second chart of gold’s performance — this time during periods of financial growth.

In Prechter’s own words:

“All huge gains in gold have come while the economy was expanding… The idea that gold reliably rises during recessions and depressions is wrong. In fact, like most such passionately accepted lore, it’s backwards.”

Now, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t own gold in a financial crisis. On the contrary: In chapter 22 of his Wall Street Journal business bestseller, Conquer the Crash, Prechter lists 5 reasons why “you should buy gold and silver anyway.” Gold is “real money,” after all! It’s just that, despite widespread beliefs to the contrary, you shouldn’t expect “huge gains in gold” when the economy contracts.

Download Robert Prechter’s FREE 40-Page Gold and Silver eBook. Is gold a simple buy-and-hold at today’s prices? The independent insights in this valuable ebook deliver Prechter’s complete analysis and help you decide how to – and how not to – incorporate gold and silver successfully into your own investment strategy. Learn more, and download your Gold and Silver eBook here.

Nico Isaac writes for Elliott Wave International, a market forecasting and technical analysis firm.

by Susan Walker

If everyone says that shocks from outside the financial system — so-called exogenous shocks — can affect it for better or worse, they must be right.

It just sounds so darned logical, right? Economists believe this trope to be true, mainly because they believe that investors are rational thinkers who re-evaluate their positions after every new bit of relevant information turns up.

Beginning to sound slightly impossible? Well, yes.

It turns out that logic is exactly what’s missing from this it-feels-so-right idea of rational reaction to exogenous shocks. Read an excerpt from Robert Prechter’s February 2010 Elliott Wave Theorist to see how Prechter deals with this widely held belief.

Find out what really moves markets — download the free 118-page Independent Investor eBook. The Independent Investor eBook shows you exactly what moves markets and what doesn’t. You might be surprised to discover it’s not the Fed or “surprise” news events. Learn more, and download your free ebook here.

* * * * *

Excerpted from Prechter’s February 2010 Elliott Wave Theorist, published Feb. 19, 2010                            

The Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) argues that as new information enters the marketplace, investors revalue stocks accordingly. … In such a world, the market would fluctuate narrowly around equilibrium as minor bits of news about individual companies mostly canceled each other out. Then important events, which would affect the valuation of the market as a whole, would serve as “shocks” causing investors to adjust prices to a new level, reflecting that new information. One would see these reactions in real time, and investigators of market history would face no difficulties in identifying precisely what new information caused the change in prices. …

This is a simple idea and simple to test. But almost no one ever bothers to test it. According to the mindset of conventional economists, no one needs to test it; it just feels right; it must be right. It’s the only model anyone can think of. But socionomists [those who use the Wave Principle to make social predictions] have tested this idea multiple ways. And the result is not pretty for the theories that rely upon it.

The tests that we will examine are not rigorous or statistical. Our time and resources are limited. But in refuting a theory, extreme rigor is unnecessary. If someone says, “All leaves are green,” all one need do is show him a red one to refute the claim. I hope when we are done with our brief survey, you will see that the ubiquitous claim we challenge is more akin to economists saying “All leaves are made of iron.” We will be unable to find a single example from nature that fits.

* * *

In his February 2010 Elliott Wave Theorist, Prechter then goes on to show charts that examine each of these claims that encompass both economic and political events:

Claim #1: “Interest rates drive stock prices.”
Claim #2: “Rising oil prices are bearish for stocks.”
Claim #3: “An expanding trade deficit is bad for a nation’s economy and therefore bearish for stock prices.”
Claim #4: “Earnings drive stock prices.”
Claim #5: “GDP drives stock prices.”
Claim #6: “Wars are bullish/bearish for stock prices.”
Claim #7: “Peace is bullish for stocks.”
Claim #8: “Terrorist attacks would cause the stock market to drop.”

To protect your personal finances, it’s important to think independently from the crowd, particularly when the crowd buys into what economists say.

Find out what really moves markets — download the free 118-page Independent Investor eBook. The Independent Investor eBook shows you exactly what moves markets and what doesn’t. You might be surprised to discover it’s not the Fed or “surprise” news events. Learn more, and download your free ebook here.

Surviving Deflation: First, Understand It
Deflation is more than just “falling prices.” Robert Prechter explains why.
February 26, 2010

The following article is an excerpt from Elliott Wave International’s free Club EWI resource, “The Guide to Understanding Deflation. Robert Prechter’s Most Important Writings on Deflation.”

The Primary Precondition of Deflation
Deflation requires a precondition: a major societal buildup in the extension of credit. Bank credit and Elliott wave expert Hamilton Bolton, in a 1957 letter, summarized his observations this way: “In reading a history of major depressions in the U.S. from 1830 on, I was impressed with the following: (a) All were set off by a deflation of excess credit. This was the one factor in common.”

“The Fed Will Stop Deflation”
I am tired of hearing people insist that the Fed can expand credit all it wants. Sometimes an analogy clarifies a subject, so let’s try one.

It may sound crazy, but suppose the government were to decide that the health of the nation depends upon producing Jaguar automobiles and providing them to as many people as possible. To facilitate that goal, it begins operating Jaguar plants all over the country, subsidizing production with tax money. To everyone’s delight, it offers these luxury cars for sale at 50 percent off the old price. People flock to the showrooms and buy. Later, sales slow down, so the government cuts the price in half again. More people rush in and buy. Sales again slow, so it lowers the price to $900 each. People return to the stores to buy two or three, or half a dozen. Why not? Look how cheap they are! Buyers give Jaguars to their kids and park an extra one on the lawn. Finally, the country is awash in Jaguars. Alas, sales slow again, and the government panics. It must move more Jaguars, or, according to its theory — ironically now made fact — the economy will recede. People are working three days a week just to pay their taxes so the government can keep producing more Jaguars. If Jaguars stop moving, the economy will stop. So the government begins giving Jaguars away. A few more cars move out of the showrooms, but then it ends. Nobody wants any more Jaguars. They don’t care if they’re free. They can’t find a use for them. Production of Jaguars ceases. It takes years to work through the overhanging supply of Jaguars. Tax collections collapse, the factories close, and unemployment soars. The economy is wrecked. People can’t afford to buy gasoline, so many of the Jaguars rust away to worthlessness. The number of Jaguars — at best — returns to the level it was before the program began.

The same thing can happen with credit.

It may sound crazy, but suppose the government were to decide that the health of the nation depends upon producing credit and providing it to as many people as possible. To facilitate that goal, it begins operating credit-production plants all over the country, called Federal Reserve Banks. To everyone’s delight, these banks offer the credit for sale at below market rates. People flock to the banks and buy. Later, sales slow down, so the banks cut the price again. More people rush in and buy. Sales again slow, so they lower the price to one percent. People return to the banks to buy even more credit. Why not? Look how cheap it is! Borrowers use credit to buy houses, boats and an extra Jaguar to park out on the lawn. Finally, the country is awash in credit. Alas, sales slow again, and the banks panic. They must move more credit, or, according to its theory — ironically now made fact — the economy will recede. People are working three days a week just to pay the interest on their debt to the banks so the banks can keep offering more credit. If credit stops moving, the economy will stop. So the banks begin giving credit away, at zero percent interest. A few more loans move through the tellers’ windows, but then it ends. Nobody wants any more credit. They don’t care if it’s free. They can’t find a use for it. Production of credit ceases. It takes years to work through the overhanging supply of credit. Interest payments collapse, banks close, and unemployment soars. The economy is wrecked. People can’t afford to pay interest on their debts, so many bonds deteriorate to worthlessness. The value of credit — at best — returns to the level it was before the program began.

Jaguars, anyone?

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