Oh, that barbarous relic!!!

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Submitted by 4plexowner on December 31, 2008 - 10:38pm

From Richard Russell’s 12/31/08 missive:

The year 2008 gave us an equal-opportunity bear market. Everybody and everything (except gold and Treasuries) got killed. The record as of Dec. 30.

Dow Industrials -34.7%
S&P 500 -39.3%
S&P Midcap -38.9%
Dow Transports -24.8%
Dow Utilities 31.7%
NYSE Composite -41.8%
Nasdaq 100 -42.4%
Russell 2000 -37.0%
Amex Composite -43.0%
DJ Wilshire 5000 -39.8%
Gold +4.25%

Foreign Markets
Paris -42.7%
Frankfurt -52.2%
Toronto -36.2%
London -32.0%
Japan -42.1%
Zurich -34.1%
Sydney -44.1%
Shanghai B -69.7%
Hong Kong -48.9%
...........................................................
There was one item that did not get "killed" during the big bear market of 2008. It was gold, which closed the year at a new high for the series, as you can see below. For those who ask, "What will gold do in a deflation?" Here's your answer.

Last day of the year quotes (spot gold).
2000 -- $273.60
2001 -- $279.00
2002 -- $348.20
2003 -- $416.10
2004 -- $438.40
2005 -- $518.90
2006 -- $638.00
2007 -- $838.00
2008 -- $880.00 . . . . . . . (Closing well above its old 1980 high, the great bull market in gold is still intact. In my opinion, we're now moving into the third phase of the gold bull market. The year 2008 is the eighth (Fibonacci number) year of higher year-end gold prices. Remember: "There's no fever like gold fever."

~

Peter Grandich’s take on the barbarous relic:

Precious Metals - TOUT-TV (CNBC) and the like continue to spew out how gold failed to fire in 2008 given all the turmoil. Let me ask you something, if your house was in the middle of a big hurricane and after it was over, it was the only one still standing and sustained no real damage, would you care about anything else? Of course not. If one bought gold on January 1, 2008, instead of any other investment, they would still have everything they had come January 1, 2009. How many people wish all they did was break even in 2008? Gold continues to offer not only that result, but gains of 20% or more in 2009, IMHO.

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