Gold price is doing something it hasn't since 2011

London (Jan 18)  The popular gold-tracking GLD ETF has risen in 13 of the past 15 sessions through Tuesday, the first time it has done so since summer of 2011.

 Gold has suffered a precipitous drop since peaking in mid-2016, with Donald Trump's election and the Federal Reserve's rate hike serving as two notable bearish catalysts. Each of the events sent the dollar surging and yields rising — both of which are bad news for gold. After peaking at nearly $1,380 per troy ounce in July, gold found itself below $1,130 per troy ounce in the middle of December.

Since then, gold has staged a subdued but nonetheless persistent rise. In the 15 sessions since Dec. 22, gold has risen more than 7 percent.

The last time the GLD rose as consistently was in the 15 sessions ended July 26, 2011, which similarly saw the ETF rise a bit less than 7 percent.

To be sure, 2011 is not a year that gold fans remember fondly. The metal topped out just a few months later, in September, at $1,923.7. A gut-wrenching decline was ahead, and the value of the metal has pretty much been declining ever since.

Still, fund manager Chad Morganlander of Washington Crossing Advisors suggests maintaining an allocation to gold, largely for hedging purposes.

"We are constructive on gold," he said Tuesday on CNBC's "Power Lunch," going on to recommend the GLD ETF.

Needless to say, he's not alone.

"We've seen investors start to buy options on products like the GLD, where they're kind of positioning for volatility" in the overall market, said Stacey Gilbert, head of derivative strategy at Susquehanna, Tuesday on "Power Lunch."

Source: Reuters