It may be the new Golden Rule of commodities markets: Gold has a mind of its own -- and it shows.
The price of gold was mostly rising, and rising some more, for each of the past two years, but in the past week it's been an unpredictable up and down pattern, and the reasons are numerous.
There are whole companies that have popped up in the past few years devoted solely to selling (and buying) gold, and they each seem to have their own reasons for why the price of gold moves as it does, but trained and seasoned observers have been pointing in all directions.
Money Man Pat Shinn says oil prices have had an effect, especially in recent moves in which "some of the sovereign wealth funds are being forced to sell gold to raise cash," and that's just one example.
Gold is often considered a "safe haven asset," meaning it keeps its value in the face of inflation -- for instance, it's said a certain amount of gold will buy you a house whether you buy it today, 100 years ago or 100 years from now, experts say.
Both are known to keep their value.
Gold is still good in that way, but the past week or so it's also been subject to geopolitical tensions (thanks to wars in the Middle East and Ukraine), supply and demand dynamics (lots of people sell gold, there's more of it on the market and the market value goes down) and then there's the theory that gold is always the best place to put money when inflation threatens, as mentioned above.
One of the complicating factors in gold and silver markets is computer trading, which is also a factor is stocks and bonds -- more so than ever.
"If the price of it falls below a line it's a sell, if it rises above a line it's a buy," the KTRH radio Money Man says.
But another factor in the sale and purchase of gold isn't even human, it's the machines.
"They're computer-driven funds, they will go long and short stocks, bonds, commodities and currency."