Understanding Market Volatility and Risk-Off Events

In this discussion, I review the absolutely stunning level of volatility experienced by the S&P 500 right around this time 5 years ago, as the market crash resulting from the Covid shutdowns occurred. No asset – except volatility – can survive the liquidation that took place in March of 2020. I also focus on gold, which, to be clear and to repeat, is not a hedge. A hedge is an insurance contract that you must part money with in order to obtain. There are no positive carry hedges in the world. But there are assets that act considerably defensively for periods of time, are trending higher, have natural buyers (in the case of gold, we can sight Central Banks) and also possess the rare feature of "stock up / vol up"... Gold has all 4 of these right now. I hope you find this podcast interesting and helpful. Thanks for listening and keep the feedback coming.