Weak dollar driving investors into gold: Merrill Lynch

Global investment bank Merrill Lynch says in its latest metals weekly analsis that weak dollar is driving investors into gold and that is the reason for the surge in yellow metal price. It said gold is a function of risk, currency and commodity prices.

Here is the Merrill Lynch analysis:

Gold is a function of risk, currency and commodity prices

As we first discussed in our October 13 2008 Metals Strategist, the price of gold can reflect several macro variables at once. This is because the yellow metal has been the ultimate store of value over thousands of years. During the last decade, however, we found that three variables alone could explain the fluctuations in the price of gold: risk, currency and commodity prices. In a nutshell, our analysis showed that gold is sometimes a currency, sometimes a commodity and sometimes a store of value. Of course, the elusive question will always be figuring out which market gold will track next.

Departing from this analytic framework, we argued back in October 2008 that gold prices would move up to $1500/oz in three steps. The outburst of the credit crisis in August 2007 marked the start of the first stage where gold started to reflect the rising risk premia, rising from $650/oz to about $950/oz. The second stage of gold price appreciation, we argued well over a year ago, would primarily be about USD weakness and lack of confidence in fiat currencies. We argued that gold could break through $1200/oz in this second stage and strengthen against all currency crosses. The third and final stage will be driven, in our view, by a strong cyclical recovery in energy and commodity prices.

Our analysis shows that the recent rally in gold prices that started in April this year has mainly been about currency weakness, matching the second stage described in our October 2008 piece. Of course, many observers will argue that investor and central bank demand has been the main driver of gold prices for some time (Chart 2). But this is the old traders’ truism: prices go up because there are more buyers than sellers. The more critical question to understand whether a trend is sustainable is what drives that investor demand. In that sense, gold prices have rallied this year on the back of a weaker trade-weighted USD.