Many market participants and commentators are obviously having a hard time distinguishing between a bull market and a bubble. More and more articles are referring to the imminent burst of the gold bubble and to an alleged crowded trade but the facts quickly put such fear-mongering into perspective.
So said Ronald-Peter St ferle of the Erste Group Bank AG in Vienna, Austria in a 71 page report* on gold he recently released. In an e-mail** he implored me to to spread the (golden) word which I have done below, in part, in a reformatted and edited [...] version for the sake of clarity and brevity (this article is only 4 pages long) to ensure a fast and easy read.
St ferle goes on to say in his report:
Currently some 0.8% of all global financial assets are invested in gold, gold shares, and ETFs. In 1932 the allocation was 20%, and in the last bull market at the beginning of the 1980s it was 26%. Granted, this is only a numeric model, but it illustrates how unfounded the myth of a gold bubble is. According to an old saying, one tends to see the bubbles wherever one is NOT invested.
The 3 phases of a bull market
The Dow Theory outlines the phases of a bull market as being three, namely.
- 1. Accumulation
- 2. Participation of the public
- 3. Distribution
1. Accumulation
The first phase is dominated by a drawn-out process. We think that this phase was happening in 1999 to 2003. At the beginning, only early adaptors are invested. The fundamental picture tends to be bleak, and there is a selling overhang. The longer this phase takes, the stronger the development in phases 2 and 3. For example, the oil price was traded within a bandwidth of USD 10-35 for more than 25 years.
In 2004 it broke out of this range and increased to USD 147/barrel within four years. Something similar happened on the equity markets. The Dow Jones index traded within a bandwidth of 600 to 1,000 points from 1962 to 1982. The outbreak was followed by 18 years of bull market, which took the index to 11,700 points or +1,400% (annualized performance 16.5%). This is the nature of a bull market.
2. Participation of the public
The second trend phase is characterized by improved fundamentals, higher confidence, and new groups of investors.
3. Distribution
Phase 3 is the euphoric phase that culminates in a blow-off , i.e. in a parabolic increase. At the end of each cycle the smart money is distributed.
In what phase of the bull market are we now?
From our point of view we are currently located at the transition from phase 2 to phase 3. Gold is getting gradually more accepted as an investment vehicle. Legendary investors such as Paul Tudor Jones, John Paulson, and David Einhorn have reported purchases of gold, the turnover is increasing, and numerous new products are being launched. In addition, gold is becoming more and more important in the asset allocation of institutional investors. We think that the passing of the magic USD (or EUR) 1,000/ounce mark heralds the imminent start of the trend acceleration phase. We saw a similar situation when oil increased above USD 100/barrel.
Bull markets end in blow-offs
If we compare the current bull market to the most recent big gold rush, we can see a pronounced distribution phase that ended in a parabolic blow-off in January 1980 at a high of USD 850/ounce. In the course of the previous ten trading days the price increased by 35%, and in the previous six weeks the price had almost doubled (+94%). The same thing might occur in the final phase of the current bull market.
Corrections are becoming shorter
Buying the dips seems to be the motto of the current phase and within the corrections, gold moves from weaker to stronger hands. Consolidations in the current bull market have become shorter and less pronounced in terms of the underlying trend and we have seen this very development since the beginning of 2009. As soon as the corrections turn really small, the market will probably make the transition to its final phase.
Fear and greed have yet to appear
Gold is a gauge for risk, and thus the currency of fear. In that sense, both fear and greed can trigger the often quoted irrational exuberance and thus the parabolic increase in the final phase.
Currently, gold is definitely no mainstream investment. In comparison with the Nasdaq at the beginning of 2000, gold is certainly more of a dark horse. If one were to ask ten people for names of three gold mining shares, chances are they would not know any. This is a stark contrast to the situation a couple of years ago when the vast majority of people were talking about technology shares and invested in highly speculative start-ups, or U.S. consumers who were taking out mortgages, hoping to benefit from continuously rising property prices.
The numbers, too, substantiate the notion that the parabolic phase of gold should still be ahead of us. For example, the Nasdaq 100 index increased by 85% in 1998, by 102% in 1999 and an additional 27% in 2000 before collapsing at the end of March. At the end of the bull market, 30 shares had gained more than 1,000%.
Is the comparison of trends in different asset classes admissible? We certainly think so, given that human behavior patterns and emotions in extreme phases are the same. Greed and fear determine the beginning and the end of bull markets. Therefore we assume that gold and gold shares could show a similar performance to the one of the Nasdaq at the end of the 1990s.
The last bull market came to an abrupt end in 1980. The then chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, increased the key lending rates to 20% within only a few months. Could this be possible today? Definitely not! In 1980 the USA was one of the biggest creditor nations in the world and had a positive trade balance. On top of that, the financial industry was substantially smaller in terms of the GDP, and excessive debt was neither in the private nor in the public sector an issue.
So said Ronald-Peter St ferle of the Erste Group Bank AG in Vienna, Austria in a 71 page report* on gold he recently released. In an e-mail** he implored me to to spread the (golden) word which I have done below, in part, in a reformatted and edited [...] version for the sake of clarity and brevity (this article is only 4 pages long) to ensure a fast and easy read.
St ferle goes on to say in his report:
Currently some 0.8% of all global financial assets are invested in gold, gold shares, and ETFs. In 1932 the allocation was 20%, and in the last bull market at the beginning of the 1980s it was 26%. Granted, this is only a numeric model, but it illustrates how unfounded the myth of a gold bubble is. According to an old saying, one tends to see the bubbles wherever one is NOT invested.
The 3 phases of a bull market
The Dow Theory outlines the phases of a bull market as being three, namely.
- 1. Accumulation
- 2. Participation of the public
- 3. Distribution
1. Accumulation
The first phase is dominated by a drawn-out process. We think that this phase was happening in 1999 to 2003. At the beginning, only early adaptors are invested. The fundamental picture tends to be bleak, and there is a selling overhang. The longer this phase takes, the stronger the development in phases 2 and 3. For example, the oil price was traded within a bandwidth of USD 10-35 for more than 25 years.
In 2004 it broke out of this range and increased to USD 147/barrel within four years. Something similar happened on the equity markets. The Dow Jones index traded within a bandwidth of 600 to 1,000 points from 1962 to 1982. The outbreak was followed by 18 years of bull market, which took the index to 11,700 points or +1,400% (annualized performance 16.5%). This is the nature of a bull market.
2. Participation of the public
The second trend phase is characterized by improved fundamentals, higher confidence, and new groups of investors.
3. Distribution
Phase 3 is the euphoric phase that culminates in a blow-off , i.e. in a parabolic increase. At the end of each cycle the smart money is distributed.
In what phase of the bull market are we now?
From our point of view we are currently located at the transition from phase 2 to phase 3. Gold is getting gradually more accepted as an investment vehicle. Legendary investors such as Paul Tudor Jones, John Paulson, and David Einhorn have reported purchases of gold, the turnover is increasing, and numerous new products are being launched. In addition, gold is becoming more and more important in the asset allocation of institutional investors. We think that the passing of the magic USD (or EUR) 1,000/ounce mark heralds the imminent start of the trend acceleration phase. We saw a similar situation when oil increased above USD 100/barrel.
Bull markets end in blow-offs
If we compare the current bull market to the most recent big gold rush, we can see a pronounced distribution phase that ended in a parabolic blow-off in January 1980 at a high of USD 850/ounce. In the course of the previous ten trading days the price increased by 35%, and in the previous six weeks the price had almost doubled (+94%). The same thing might occur in the final phase of the current bull market.
Corrections are becoming shorter
Buying the dips seems to be the motto of the current phase and within the corrections, gold moves from weaker to stronger hands. Consolidations in the current bull market have become shorter and less pronounced in terms of the underlying trend and we have seen this very development since the beginning of 2009. As soon as the corrections turn really small, the market will probably make the transition to its final phase.
Fear and greed have yet to appear
Gold is a gauge for risk, and thus the currency of fear. In that sense, both fear and greed can trigger the often quoted irrational exuberance and thus the parabolic increase in the final phase.
Currently, gold is definitely no mainstream investment. In comparison with the Nasdaq at the beginning of 2000, gold is certainly more of a dark horse. If one were to ask ten people for names of three gold mining shares, chances are they would not know any. This is a stark contrast to the situation a couple of years ago when the vast majority of people were talking about technology shares and invested in highly speculative start-ups, or U.S. consumers who were taking out mortgages, hoping to benefit from continuously rising property prices.
The numbers, too, substantiate the notion that the parabolic phase of gold should still be ahead of us. For example, the Nasdaq 100 index increased by 85% in 1998, by 102% in 1999 and an additional 27% in 2000 before collapsing at the end of March. At the end of the bull market, 30 shares had gained more than 1,000%.
Is the comparison of trends in different asset classes admissible? We certainly think so, given that human behavior patterns and emotions in extreme phases are the same. Greed and fear determine the beginning and the end of bull markets. Therefore we assume that gold and gold shares could show a similar performance to the one of the Nasdaq at the end of the 1990s.
The last bull market came to an abrupt end in 1980. The then chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, increased the key lending rates to 20% within only a few months. Could this be possible today? Definitely not! In 1980 the USA was one of the biggest creditor nations in the world and had a positive trade balance. On top of that, the financial industry was substantially smaller in terms of the GDP, and excessive debt was neither in the private nor in the public sector an issue.
