Anyone wanting to see a demonstration of how a “bond-bullion barbell” portfolio moves on a day when nearly everything seems to be going down need look no further than a few representative indexes and ETFs as shown below, in which Treasuries and gold bullion are the only green in a sea of red.

Note that gold stocks are clearly siding with broad equity markets at the moment and, as is usually the case at a time like this, silver traders have parted company with those in the gold pits, the dearth of buyers sending the silver price sharply lower. By the way, don’t ask me to explain how PHYS moves – it seems to march to a completely different drummer.

Tim Iacono

Iacono Research.com

Tim Iacono is the founder of Iacono Research which provides market commentary and investment advisory services specializing in macroeconomic analysis and commodity based investing. He also writes the popular blog The Mess That Greenspan Made.