Gold Being Gold; ‘It’s Doing a Good Job Right Now’ – Fund Manager, Axel Merk

Kitco News -- Gold has been doing exactly what it should be doing, says Axel Merk of San Francisco-based Merk Investments. ‘Gold has done a good job right now. It is a diversifier and the correction in the equity markets is far from over, so gold will do well,’ he says in an interview with Kitco News. The recent choppy, sideways trading and Thursday’s rally suggest the gold market has put in at least a near-term low. Gold bulls’ next upside near-term price breakout objective is to produce a close above solid technical resistance at $1,130. Merk explains, ‘I like gold because I don’t think we can have positive real interest rates – which ultimately is a competitor to gold.’ Merk also adds that he is waiting for the U.S. Fed to ‘acknowledge’ that it cannot pursue a hiking cycle, at which point, ‘gold will rise in earnest again.’ On the topic of the stock market, Merk says he ‘loves these markets,’ since he does not have equity exposure. February Comex gold was last down $0.80 at $1,097.50 an ounce. March Comex silver was last up $0.046 at $14.14 an ounce.