It’s not unusual for a financial market to be pulled in different directions simultaneously by competing influences, but what is notable for gold currently is the apparent inability of the contradictory factors to gain momentum.

History and logic suggest that when the United States starts a monetary tightening cycle, gold will underperform, since as a non-yielding asset it loses out to instruments that will enjoy higher yields from the rising rates.

The Federal Reserve lifted interest rates on March 15 for the second time in three months, with expectations that it will raise at least twice more this year and perhaps three times in 2018.