Gold has a long-standing and well-established reputation as a safe-haven investment. Whenever a macroeconomic or geopolitical crisis flares up, or there's an unexpected surge in market volatility, chances are good you'll see investors flocking towards the yellow metal as an alternative investment. Not only is gold viewed as less risky than equities, it also boasts a reputation as a store of value and hedge against inflation.
Recently, with geopolitical tensions still simmering in the Middle East and bond yields surging to their highest in 16 years, the December gold futures contract (GCZ23) peaked above the $2,000 mark late last week - and briefly vaulted above this major round-number level in today's trading, too. With the macro environment increasingly shaky, the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) - the massive physical gold ETF - has risen more than 4% over the past month, even as the S&P 500 Index ($SPX) has dropped more than 3%.
