Loading ...The following is a reprint of the market commentary from the September 2018 edition of The Option Advisor, published on August 24. For more information, or to subscribe to The Option Advisor — featuring 10 new option trades each month — visit our online store.
The centerpiece of most stock market media coverage this past week was the age of the rapidly maturing bull market, and whether or not the current run higher can be accurately and fairly described as the longest in history. It was a debate that clearly divided the financial world into the “closing level” and “intraday level” camps, and a useful diversion during this traditionally quiet post-earnings, pre-Labor Day stretch of August (although this particular late-summer period has certainly not been without its share of political drama, stocks have been so far relatively unmoved by it, on balance).
And so, while pundits have been debating the breadth and depth of various historical stock market corrections and rallies, investors appear to have grown increasingly — and perhaps climactically — bearish on the prospects for gold, the precious metal traditionally viewed as a “safe haven” asset during times of turmoil.