The charts that matter: gold hangs on to gains while the dollar continues higher

The gold price continued to hang on to last week’s gains, even as the US dollar powered higher this week. Here’s how that has affected the charts that matter most to the global economy.

Welcome back.

This week, we’re looking at China. Not so very long ago, Chinese stocks looked like a good bet. The economy was booming, stocks were soaring (though many shares were mispriced, opening up all sorts of opportunities) and it offered diversification for your portfolio. But now? Things are different.

There are three distinct worries for investors, says Cris Sholto Heaton. The country’s passion for social control and its crackdown on dissent; state meddling in private businesses; and its deteriorating relations with the West. Some private sector businesses will undoubtedly do fine, but it may be increasingly hard to pick winners.

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Cris looks at some of the best ways to do that for those of you determined to buy in.

If you’re not already a subscriber, sign up here and get your first six issues free.

This week’s guest on the MoneyWeek Podcast is someone with whom many of our readers may be familiar: Spencer Adair of the Monks Investment Trust. He tells Merryn about how he shuns “glamorous” growth to find solid “cockroach” companies that thrive over the long term while their competitors wither and die. Listen to what he has to say here.

Here are the links for this week’s editions of Money Morning and other web articles you may have missed:

Now for the charts of the week.

Gold kept hold of the previous week’s gains as investors continue to worry about inflation.

(Gold: three months)

(Image credit: (Gold: three months))

The US dollar index (DXY – a measure of the strength of the dollar against a basket of the currencies of its major trading partners) slipped a little, but the greenback’s rise is likely to continue, says Dominic, something that is causing a “fundamental shift in the investment landscape”.

(DXY: three months)

(Image credit: (DXY: three months))

Despite the dollar’s strength, the Chinese yuan (or renminbi) firmed up against it (when the red line is rising, the dollar is strengthening while the yuan is weakening).

(Chinese yuan to the US dollar: since 25 Jun 2019)

(Image credit: (Chinese yuan to the US dollar: since 25 Jun 2019))

The yield on the ten-year US government bond dipped a little.

(Ten-year US Treasury yield: three months)

(Image credit: (Ten-year US Treasury yield: three months))

The yield on the Japanese ten-year bond rose slightly.

(Ten-year Japanese government bond yield: three months)

(Image credit: (Ten-year Japanese government bond yield: three months))

While the yield on the ten-year German Bund slipped further into negative territory.

(Ten-year Bund yield: three months)

(Image credit: (Ten-year Bund yield: three months))

Copper is looking very volatile these days.

(Copper: nine months)

(Image credit: (Copper: nine months))

And the closely related Aussie dollar continued to fall against the US dollar.

(Aussie dollar vs US dollar exchange rate: three months)

(Image credit: (Aussie dollar vs US dollar exchange rate: three months))

Bitcoin fell from its recent new high.

(Bitcoin: three months)

(Image credit: (Bitcoin: three months))

US weekly initial jobless claims fell by 1,000 to 268,000. The four-week moving average rose by 7,750 to 272,750.

(US initial jobless claims, four-week moving average: since Jan 2020)

(Image credit: (US initial jobless claims, four-week moving average: since Jan 2020))

The oil price eased somewhat.

(Brent crude oil: three months)

(Image credit: (Brent crude oil: three months))

Amazon's share price took off in a week when it said it would soon no longer accept Visa credit cards for payment in the UK. Could investors be looking forward to the e-commerce giant disrupting finance, too? Visa’s share price fell by 5% on the news.

(Amazon: three months)

(Image credit: (Amazon: three months))

And Tesla looked to be recovering from the 10% rout prompted by Elon Musk’s most recent adventures on Twitter.

(Tesla: three months)

Have a great weekend.

Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.