Here is something I never would have guessed at, via Dave Wilson of
Bloomberg: If you want to be hedged against the risk of a pickup in
inflation, you would be better off buying houses than gold.
That’s according to Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at
Merrill Lynch. His chart (above) shows the U.S. house-price index and
the price of Gold since 1995.
According to Bloomberg, “Home prices rose 6% through the end of last
year from their low in the second quarter of 2011. Q1 reading is due May
23. Prices in 20 of the largest U.S. cities increased 0.4 percent
through the first two months of this year, according to the Standard
& Poor’s/Case-Shiller index.”
As houses became more expensive, gold got cheaper. Its off as much as 31% from its September 2011 peak of $1,923.70 an ounce.
Source:
Houses Surpass Gold for Hedging U.S. Inflation
David Wilson
Bloomberg May 3 2013
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Australia fundamentals deteriorate rapidly as evidenced by a collapse in the PMI Manufacturing Index in April.
Key FindingsREAD MORE
- Manufacturing activity contracted significantly in April as conditions weakened amid a strong Australian dollar, intense import competition, high energy costs and weak local confidence.
- The Australian Industry Group Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index (Australian PMI®) fell 7.7 points to 36.7 on a seasonally adjusted basis. (Readings below 50 indicate a contraction in activity with the distance from 50 indicative of the strength of the decrease.)
- This is the lowest level the Australian PMI® has recorded since May 2009, with many of the key sub-indexes also dropping to levels not seen since 2009. The three-month moving average in April fell to 42.2 points from 43.4 points in March.
- Contractions in activity were recorded in seven out of the eight manufacturing sub-sectors. Significant contractions were recorded in food, beverage & tobacco products; printing & recorded media; non-metallic mineral products; metal products; and machinery & equipment.