by Fred Fuld III
It may look like gold hasn’t been doing much of anything recently. Even for the last twelve months, gold has been relatively flat.
So what about long term. Can gold outperform the stock market over a long period of time?
Of course, it depends on the time frame, but let’s look at this century, beginning January 3, 2000 (the first business day of the year).
Based on that time frame, gold has far outperformed the various stock indices, including the S&P 500, the NASDAQ, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
As a matter of fact, gold has increased by 558% over that time, versus 329% for the S&P 500 as measured by the SPDR SPY ETF (SPY), which was only up 329%. This includes dividends for the SPY.
The statistics for the returns are below, which also include the Dow and the NASDAQ.
| Gold versus Stocks This Century | |||||
| Percentage increase in price from January 3, 2000 to the present | |||||
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | 190% | ||||
| S&P 500 as measured by SPY | 329% | ||||
| NASDAQ as measured by QQQ | 276% | ||||
| Gold price per ounce | 558% | ||||
| * Adjusted for splits and dividend and/or capital gain distributions | |||||
| Sources: Yahoo!Finance historical data, sdbullion.com | |||||
Is gold in your portfolio?