Gold is a 'good hiding place' for investors as S&P 500 falls nearly 16% this year

5.12.22 - Gold: A 'Good Hiding Place' for Investors

Gold last traded at $1,822 an ounce. Silver at $20.70 an ounce.

NEWS SUMMARY: Precious metal prices eased back Thursday as the dollar extended gains. U.S. stocks fell as a sell-off on Wall Street continued to push the S&P 500 to its lowest level in more than a year; and to the brink of bear market territory.

Kitco--"In a telephone interview with Kitco News, Steve Land, vice president and portfolio manager of Franklin Templeton's Franklin Gold and Precious Metals Fund, said that although gold has struggled to attract any consistent bullish momentum, it continues to outperform equity markets.

Since the start of the year, the S&P 500 has fallen 16% as the index drops to 4,000 points Tuesday. Meanwhile, even with Tuesday's selling pressure, gold prices are roughly neutral for the year....

'The big headwind had been the strong U.S. dollar. When you consider that, I think gold has actually been performing reasonably well,' he said. 'Gold's role in times of crisis and uncertainty is to maintain and preserve value, which it is doing.'

Land said that although gold's performance has been disappointing in recent weeks, he sees the price action as a consolidation phase following a strong first-quarter performance. He added that investors will continue to see gold as a vital diversification tool and inflation hedge.

'There's no question that there are a lot more moving pieces in the global economy than there have been in a long time. Gold's, low correlation to markets, means it's someplace investors can hideout to a degree,' he said."