Dear David, hello and hope everything is fine up there at beautiful London. Has the time arrived to exit gold and miners? Are we witnessing a new paradigm with higher rates, lower taxes and fiscal stimulus? Does it make sense to hold gold with this new scenario? Your thoughts will be very appreciated. Thank you very much!

David Fuller's view

Thank you for this email of general interest.

Higher interest rates and a stronger US Dollar are headwinds for gold and other precious metals, and also the mining companies.  However, no more so than for other shares and stock market indices.  Meanwhile, we have known for several months that the next US rate hike was very likely to occur in December, but the Fed continues to say that further increases will be gradual.  Therefore the window of opportunity for these markets remains open. 

Gold fell sharply today and was talked lower by the sellers, presumably to attract attention and perhaps buy it back lower.  The decline looks overextended to me, so I would be surprised if it fell much further.  Seasonal factors currently favour gold and other commodities but they will remain volatile.