Weekend Wars: DJIA vs. GOLD

I will keep it short and sweet this week, guys. Gold recently surged to an all-time high of $1,900 an ounce. No, this is not quite as high as the inflation adjusted $850/oz. of 1980, (~$2,400 in today's greenbacks) but it is pretty damn close. As with every inflating bubble, however, the pop has to come at some point and rather than speculate on when that will be I will ask the question which is on the minds of many... what about equities?

Check out the following chart demonstrating the price spread between the SPDR Gold Trust and the SPDR DJIA ETF which mimics the performance of the 30 stock index.

The price spread between the SPDR Gold Trust, an exchange-traded fund that tracks bullion, and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF, a fund which mimics the performance of the 30 stocks in the index. The premium widened by the most since the fund for the precious metal was started in November 2004.

Gold surged to an all-time high above $1,900 an ounce last week, pushing the value of bullion to $9.1 trillion based on cumulative supply, or about 2.75 times the market capitalization of companies in the Dow index. Companies in the U.S. equities gauge have an average dividend yield of 2.7 percent and trade at 11.3 times estimated earnings as of Aug. 25.

Numbers would dictate that the Dow is currently a better buy even in a potentially inflationary environment over the next decade. What do you boys and girls say? Is it time to start gobbling up the Dow and let go of the gold? Or will you be holding on to that gold chain until pawn shops begin taking investment banks private?

9 Comments
 

Some days I wonder if it's all just the bandwagon effect kicking in. These things seem to happen a lot lately.

In 1976, James Hunt broke the sound barrier through Eau Rouge only to retire before the event finished... following the race he had sex with three Belgian nurses at the clubhouse near La Source.
 

For long term investors, all stocks have been BUY since the first inkling of the financial crisis, and will continue to be for the next year. Everything is more or less predictable until the 2012 election. After that, there's no way to know what the hell will happen.

Get busy living
 

Assumenda facere similique quibusdam excepturi voluptatem. Ut eum autem ad mollitia aliquam numquam qui. Beatae in quisquam soluta ab quis modi sit aperiam. Porro distinctio et sint consectetur quos atque dolores delectus.

Rerum ullam doloremque et ad excepturi. Optio quas et illum ab vel.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”