John Norris: Surprising dollar has stolen some of gold’s luster

Summary: This analysis from John Norris explores the current gold market and asks whether the 12-year bull market is over. He says regardless of the Fed’s efforts to stimulate borrowing, many businesses and individuals have taken a more conservative approach – pay off debts and otherwise improving balance sheets. If businesses and individuals were borrowing like they were in 2006, price inflation would be much higher. And while the U.S. balance sheet is pretty bad, Europe is in much worse shape. So while the “inflation hedge” argument for gold may be on the decline, uncertainty is the real reason many people are drawn to gold. For those investors, gold’s drop is really just a blip on the radar screen. Read more….