Art's Charts

Treasury Yields Continue to Drive Gold Prices

Arthur Hill

Arthur Hill

Chief Technical Strategist, TrendInvestorPro.com

Investors looking to time gold should pay close attention to the 10-yr Treasury yield because these two show a strong negative correlation over the last two years. This means they move in opposite directions. The chart below shows the Gold SPDR (GLD), the 10-yr T-Yield ($TNX) and the 13-week Correlation Coefficient (GLD,$TNX). The red and green arrows mark three significant moves in GLD and $TNX. First, GLD fell from January to July 2015 as the 10-yr Yield rose. Second, GLD advanced from January to May as the 10-yr yield fell sharply. Third, the 10-yr Yield moved higher from July to October and GLD moved lower. These two are clearly opposites. 


Chartists can quantify the correlation between the two using the Correlation Coefficient (GLD,$TNX). I prefer weekly charts when measuring correlation and use 13 weeks for the look-back period, which represents a quarter or three months. The Correlation Coefficient spent most of its time in negative territory with three excursions above the zero line. These, however, did not last long. The thin blue line shows the 104-week moving average of the Correlation Coefficient in negative territory the entire time. Currently, the two-year average of the 13-week Correlation Coefficient is at -.52 and this clearly shows a negative relationship between the two. I would expect gold to remain under pressure as long as the 10-yr T-Yield holds above 1.6% (16 on the chart). 

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--Arthur Hill CMT

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Arthur Hill
About the author: , CMT, is the Chief Technical Strategist at TrendInvestorPro.com. Focusing predominantly on US equities and ETFs, his systematic approach of identifying trend, finding signals within the trend, and setting key price levels has made him an esteemed market technician. Arthur has written articles for numerous financial publications including Barrons and Stocks & Commodities Magazine. In addition to his Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designation, he holds an MBA from the Cass Business School at City University in London. Learn More