While popular explanations for gold’s decline challenge the yellow metal’s status as a safe haven or cast doubt on the continuance of the U.S. dollar debasement trend, the real driver of precious metals’ price action since the start if the Iran conflict is the massive recent growth of retail traders in the metals market, according to Robin Brooks, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and former Chief Economist at IIF and Chief FX Strategist at Goldman Sachs. In an analysis published Wednesday, Brooks unpacked some of the popular explanations for why precious metals prices have declined during the Iran conflict. ... (full story)