First, mapping the level of M2 money supply onto the gold price offers increased utility relative to monitoring its rate-of-change alone.
The level shows gold reached a major support in Nov 2022.
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Here we use a projection of a 94 year old gold price from 1929. One may think, what really can that tell us about the modern gold market?
It turns out the mid-cycle-level has functioned as support/resistance many times in the past 50 years and 4 times in the last 7 yrs.
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The two drivers of the gold price are rising inflation expectations and a falling long-term yield.
For much of 2022, gold had one foot on the 'brake' (from rising yields) and one foot on the 'accelerator' (from rising inflation expectations).
Thus, price did not do much.
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As early as March 2022, gold began pricing in higher trending inflation expectations. Concurrent with this, the CPI inflation rate was topping >8%.
To this day, gold has continued to price in a rising inflation expectation thus closing the gap with the CPI inflation rate.
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But by Oct-Nov 2022, the 'brake' from rising yields was being let off as the 10yr yield began to initially peak setting up the first leg up for the gold price.
Then by Mar 2023, both feet were on the 'accelerator' as yields began to fall and the gold price took off.
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The case for gold is simple when condensed down to its basic elements.
On March 10, 2023 when the gold price was $1,867 and the 10yr yield had broken-down, we put out the following post:
(8/9) giresearch.substack.com/p/low-complete…
There are many parallels to the current setup to that of the 2007 analog which spans the period from Nov to Dec 2007.
1) Silver is getting an undercut low just as it did during the 2007 analog, as did the miners.
2) The 2007 analog occurred midway through gold's advancing during that period's rate cutting cycle.
3) Similar to the current setup, during the 2007 analog, gold make its low in mid-Nov which was also drive by the large Dec options expiration. It then formed a consolidation coil before breaking out on Dec 20th 2007.
The 10yr US T-Note yield is potentially in the process of forming a double-top around 4.2% similar to what it did a couple interest rate cycles ago in Jun 2007.
What is the implication for the gold price?🧵
Long term real yields are the main driver of the gold price which means the following are positive for it:
1⃣ A falling 10yr yield
2⃣A rising inflation expectation
Since one can back out the influence of yields and re-express the gold price into its inflation expectation equivalent form, we can clearly see that since early 2022, a rising inf. exp. has been the main positive driver for the gold price.
Historically, how has CPI based inflation (which is 1yr backwards looking metric) compare with the 10yr inflation expectation (which is the expected inflation rate implied over the subsequent 10yr period)?
Intuitively, the 10yr inflation expectation should be a more moderated than YoY CPI due to the longer period it is averaging over.
Although technically incorrect, one can at least form a moderated CPI by looking at its 5yr EMA which currently is around ~4.5%.
Although the CPI inflation rate will likely form a YoY peak soon, the questions is at what level will it equilibrate as it moderates. With the 10yr inflation expectation at sub 3%, the market seems to expect inflation to return to the prior level ~2%.
Setup is very comparable to the 7.5yr cycle that ended in late-2008.
▪️2yr yield peaks in Jun'07
▪️GDX/Gold ratio reaches low two months later in Aug'07
▪️Gold in consolidation then advances to $1k over the next ~6 months; a ~50% run.
The question has been asked, what is holding the gold price up so well despite the 10yr real-yield putting in one of its widest divergences seen on the chart?
One could make the case that it is the record negative short-term real-yield (3mo T-Bill yield less CPI YoY % chg) that is in-part holding it up.
Here is the same chart as above but with the USD index (DXY) and the short-term real-yield included.
One can see that even in the 1970s, the short-term real yield never got quiet as negative as it is currently reading.