Top Stories This Week: Gold’s Big Price Drop, Getting Speculative in 2021

We’ve reached the end of the first full week of the new year, and for gold it’s been a bumpy ride.

The yellow metal started the period at around US$1,910 per ounce, then rose as high as about US$1,960 midway through the week; at the time of this writing, it was well below the US$1,900 mark.

Gold’s price moves have come against an interesting backdrop in the US — aside from Tuesday’s (January 5) runoff elections in Georgia, Wednesday (January 6) saw supporters of US President Donald Trump descend on the Capitol during a session whose purpose was to count electoral college votes.

Gold tends to thrive in times of turmoil, but instead took a fall as Wednesday’s events unfolded.

Why? Market watchers have pointed to a rise in US 10 year Treasury yields, which jumped above 1 percent for the first time since last March. Both gold and Treasuries are considered safe havens, but when Treasury yields rise, gold, which does not bear interest, can become less appealing.

We also asked our Twitter followers for their thoughts on why gold didn’t rise on this week’s unrest.

Comments were varied, with one respondent suggesting that Wednesday’s events didn’t represent true turmoil; a number of others pointed to bitcoin’s price rise, suggesting interest is going there instead.

We’ll be asking another question on Twitter next week, so make sure to follow us @INN_Resource or follow me @Charlotte_McL to share your thoughts.

Aside from that, INN spoke this week with Thom Calandra of the Calandra Report and Nick Santiago of InTheMoneyStocks. They both shared their best advice for investors in 2021, with Thom encouraging market participants to leave room in their portfolios for speculative plays.

“I’d try to carve out a little more of your cash or portfolio for an intensely speculative part, whether it’s biopharma, mining, steel — it could even be media” — Thom Calandra, the Calandra Report

For his part, Nick said it’s key for investors to have an understanding of how to read charts — something he focuses on closely in his work.

Finally, like we’ve done for the last couple of weeks, I’m going to close out by highlighting INN’s outlook content. As a reminder, at the end of every year, our reporters reach out to experts in the many markets we cover; then we compile their ideas to give our audience a look at the year ahead.

This week we’ve moved into the battery metals space with outlooks for cobalt and lithium. In 2020, the markets for both metals were impacted by COVID-19, but experts believe 2021 looks brighter.

In both the cobalt and lithium sectors, higher demand and prices are expected as the electric vehicle narrative continues to gain steam in the months and years to come.

Want more YouTube content? Check out our YouTube playlist At Home With INN, which features interviews with experts in the resource space. If there’s someone you’d like to see us interview, please send an email to cmcleod@investingnews.com.

And don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates! 

Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.