After Iran, gold is looking less glittery

GateUser-9ad11037 · 2026-04-02T00:32:18+00:00

Investors typically seek cash-generating assets like stocks and bonds, but gold lacks cash flows. Its primary value lies in serving as a hedge against market crises, maintaining value over time despite its minimal real-world applications.

GateUser-9ad11037

2026-04-02 00:32:18

Abstract generation in progress

Conventionally, investors want the assets they hold to make them money—and not just owing to rising valuations. Bonds spit out coupons; stocks offer dividends. Gold is different. It emanates no cashflows. Its smattering of real-world uses, in jewellery-making or electronics, hardly justifies its hefty presence in many portfolios.

The best reason to hold gold is as insurance against a blow-up, real or metaphorical. The hope is that millennia of human fascination with the stuff mean its value will never fall to nothing. The metal has also long had the helpful property of getting more valuable when other assets are in trouble.

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