After the gold crash

COMMODITIES

Adrian Ash, head of research at BullionVault, argues the crash of 2013 simply proved gold's role as ‘investment insurance'.

The gold crash of 2013 had several causes, chief amongst them talk of tapering by the Federal Reserve and surging stock markets worldwide. The speed of the turnabout in sentiment about the asset class was caused by a sudden attack of rational thinking among investment managers. Cooler heads were long overdue, after the gut-panic whirlwind of the financial crisis had followed the ‘keep dancing’ madness of the credit bubble. Against both mass delusions, gold offered an antidote. It remains the best-performing major investment of the last ten years. But while gold was perfectly ration...