Gold’s meltdown

Gold has taken a hit. This precious metal suffered its eighth straight day of losses Monday bringing it to its lowest level in over five years. Analysts attribute this meltdown to a number of factors ranging from a reduced need for inflation hedges and the end of the Greek drama to a strong U.S. dollar and looming interest rate hike. 

As for involving gold into your portfolio, the yellow metal has been an effective diversifier in times of rampant Central Bank stimulus, perennial banking crises and geopolitical instability but, not so much during the current "normalization" period we are in. In fact a "real return" or asset class return minus inflation has not come from "real" assets like commodities but from stocks and bonds instead, says Voya Global Perspectives.