FYI: Flows arguably reflect investor decisions and sentiment. Eric Balchunas of Bloomberg pointed out on Twitter Friday that annual gold ETF flows are just shy of the $10 billion record set in 2009, which is a “notable feat given the increase competition (and attacks) from crypto, as well as the fact that in 2009 gold was up 10% more than this year.”
However, according to Bloomberg, even more notable is the fact that gold was up about 30.14% over the previous two years when the S&P 500 was down 20.15% (Dec. 31, 2007 to Dec. 31, 2009). Could it be that flows are telegraphing market sentiment for risk management?
The market tone is that of complacency, and while tactical investing has generally not read the tea leaves well these past 10 years, it’s worth noting that the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) was up 68.23% from Dec. 31, 2007 to Dec. 31, 2010 versus a negative 8.12%, so in certain periods, tactical has paid off.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.etf.com/sections/etf-strategist-corner/key-etf-indicators-tinged-gold?nopaging=1
