The rise in precious metals prices is breathtaking and profoundly scary. Gold is now up 50 percent since August 22, which is when Chair Powell gave his dovish keynote speech at the Jackson Hole symposium, the event that started the “debasement trade.” There’s a lot of chatter about what’s driving the rise in gold prices, so this post runs through four points that I think summarize what we’re seeing. The rise in gold is part of something much bigger: as the chart below shows, all precious metals prices are going through the roof and gold is a laggard compared to silver and platinum. At the same time, we’re seeing ... (full story)