Barry Ritholtz, Columnist

The Gold Fairy Tale Fails Again

The stories devised to explain why gold will rise, even though it has fallen for four years, are exercises in valuing narrative over analysis.

December 2, 2014 at 3:55 PM UTC

By Barry Ritholtz

Barry Ritholtz is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is chairman and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, and was previously chief market strategist at Maxim Group. He is the author of “Bailout Nation.”

Tell me a story.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

This article is for subscribers only.

Will they never learn?

Yesterday, oil rallied 4.3 percent and gold gained 3.6 percent as commodities had an up day after a long and painful fall. The fascinating aspect of the trading wasn't the $45 pop in gold, nor the even greater percentage rally in oil, but the accompanying narrative. (As of this writing, each has giving up about half of those gains).