Even if you’re aware that certain factors can contribute to the stock market rising and falling, pinpointing exactly when movement in either direction will happen is often challenging.

As Time noted in a recent article, publicly traded companies’ stock prices are determined largely by the supply and demand for those stocks — which can be keenly affected by the way the economy and other elements affect the industries in which those companies operate.

Gauging whether an individual company seems to be profitably positioned may help you weigh the benefits of a specific stock purchase or sale. 

Yet no matter how closely you follow trends and the market, influential events can occur — ranging from a terrorist attack to unexpected employment findings — that may impact the stock market and be almost impossible to predict.

Gold and Stock Activity 

Past increases made by the Federal Reserve to the target range for the federal funds rate have negatively affected the stock market, according to The New York Times, drawing portfolio holders’ interest away from stocks and toward less volatile assets like bonds.

Between March 2022 and September 2023, the Fed raised the target range for the federal funds rate 11 times to reduce inflation. The range has remained at an elevated level since. 

The stock market, however, has “soared since the autumn of 2022,” according to a recent New York Times article — which suggests that the Fed now faces challenges balancing the impact high interest rates are having on consumers with bringing inflation down in the coming months.

Gold’s behavior has been less of an anomaly. Historically, it’s tended to retain its buying power — and in some instances, even increase that power — during both economically challenging and robust periods. 

For example, when inflation in the United States rose in 2022, at one point reaching its highest level since 1981 — 9.1% — CNBC reported that the Dow Jones Industrial Average had declined by nearly 9%, the S&P 500 Index had shed more than 19%, and the Nasdaq had dropped 33%.

Meanwhile, desire for gold — partially driven by demand for gold bars and coins — increased in 2022 by 10% from 2021, according to the World Gold Council.

In recent months, the metal has hit new highs, such as spot gold prices surpassing $2,135 per ounce in December and more than $2,365 per ounce as of April 9, 2024.

“Gold has a 3,000-year-old track record,” says U.S. Money Reserve President Philip N. Diehl, who served as 35th Director of the U.S. Mint. “It’s not just a long history; it’s a worldwide history — it’s one of the few things that has held value for such a long period of time [and] has been a medium of exchange that facilitates commerce.” 

Why Consumers Choose Physical Gold 

A global pandemic, growing government debt, and high inflation in recent years may all have helped shift consumers’ risk tolerance toward safe-haven assets like physical gold.

Gold nudged ahead of stocks on Americans’ list of the best long-term investments in 2023, according to a Gallup poll, placing it behind just one other asset: real estate. The percentage of Americans who selected gold as the best long-term investment rose from 15% in 2022 to 26% in 2023.

Numerous U.S. Money Reserve reviews shared on platforms such as the Better Business Bureau website also indicate that portfolio holders have an interest in the precious metal.

Rich D., for example, says he spoke to three companies about converting his savings into gold before choosing to do business with U.S. Money Reserve. 

“U.S. Money Reserve made me feel very confident about my choice,” Rich says in one of the U.S. Money Reserve reviews on the Better Business Bureau site. “As our country and the world [seem] to be in such turmoil, I knew I had to make a different choice with my savings. Gold, I found, is the way to protect it.”

Edward S. worked with the company to move from a 401(k) that he says had been losing money to a gold-backed individual retirement account.

“That is making me more return on my investment,” Edward states in another one of the U.S. Money Reserve reviews on the Better Business Bureau site. “Everyone I have [been] talking to has answered all my questions. They seem knowledgeable, and I feel safe and secure.”

The U.S. Money Reserve Account Executive with whom Eric L. spoke when he contacted the company explained how including gold and silver in a portfolio could potentially help anchor it against the ups and downs the stock market may experience.

“I appreciate his answers to many questions and the helpful information sent to my home and emails,” Eric says in one of the U.S. Money Reserve reviews on the Better Business Bureau website. “A good relationship with U.S. Money Reserve netted my first purchase, and [I’m] now considering another.”

Cynthia S., another portfolio holder who has worked with U.S. Money Reserve, describes the Account Executive she spoke with as someone who is “very knowledgeable and explains things thoroughly.”

“Dealing with your hard-earned money can be stressful in this economy,” Cynthia writes in one of the U.S. Money Reserve reviews shared on the Better Business Bureau site. “But [the Account Executive] made it easy. I know I made the right decision.”

The specific amount of gold you opt to include in your portfolio could depend on a variety of factors, according to Diehl.

“One would be how risk-averse you are, how close you are to retirement, how much money is in your portfolio — and also your view of the future,” he says. “Gold is security in the face of economic and political storms, and it has been for generations.”

If you’d like to find out more about setting up a precious metals–backed individual retirement account or purchasing gold assets for your portfolio, visit U.S. Money Reserve’s website — where you can view a selection of the company’s available inventory of coins and other products and access additional informational resources — or call 1-888-708-0458 to speak to a U.S-based Account Executive.