Gold’s surprisingly stealthy bull market

Gold's multi-year gains gathered less attention than you’d expect, but that now seems to be changing, says Cris Sholto Heaton

Gold bars and coins
(Image credit: brightstars)

I am not as much of a gold bug. I sympathise with many of the criticisms. It is not a productive asset. It does not generate an income. It incurs storage costs, so you can even say that it has a negative yield. We are not returning to a gold standard, so the idea that it represents sound money is wishful thinking. These arguments are all very logical.

Yet gold also has a long history as a trusted store of wealth and there are logical reasons for that as well. It’s rare and expensive to mine. It looks the part – this is a social judgement, but one that has lasted for thousands of years. It does not tarnish, rust or corrode. It is dense. It has few industrial uses, so its value is set by investment or jewellery demand (ie, wealth-related purposes). Other materials have some of these desirable traits, but gold combines them all.

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Cris Sholto Heaton

Cris Sholto Heaton is an investment analyst and writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2006 and was managing editor of the magazine between 2016 and 2018. He is especially interested in international investing, believing many investors still focus too much on their home markets and that it pays to take advantage of all the opportunities the world offers. He often writes about Asian equities, international income and global asset allocation.

Cris began his career in financial services consultancy at PwC and Lane Clark & Peacock, before an abrupt change of direction into oil, gas and energy at Petroleum Economist and Platts and subsequently into investment research and writing. In addition to his articles for MoneyWeek, he also works with a number of asset managers, consultancies and financial information providers.

He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and the Investment Management Certificate, as well as degrees in finance and mathematics. He has also studied acting, film-making and photography, and strongly suspects that an awareness of what makes a compelling story is just as important for understanding markets as any amount of qualifications.