Gold’s Ups and Downs

Gold’s Ups and Downs

King Midas lusted after it. The Incas worshipped it. Shiny flakes of it set off a 19th-century rush to California and families in India use it to store wealth on the arms of their daughters. Gold's allure remains as untarnished as the noble metal itself, even as its price is subject to manias and periods of ambivalence. Bullion is best known as a time-honored haven from inflation, but there are a plenty of conflicting factors at work that can excite investors. As financial markets convulsed duri