Last night I referenced a Stock Investing book to see what it said when the Gold price was moving, There wasn't really that much but Investor's Business Daily had this :

"IBD's gold Index provides still more insights into the health of the general market, it's made up of five stocks of gold-mining companies and is regarded as a counter-cyclical indicator. gold issues have tended to rise when the stock market has fallen and to decline during periods of broadly rising stock prices. As such, they can be sound investments during bear markets. They aren't counter-cyclical all the time, just most of the time. So if you're invested in other stocks, a significant rally in the Gold index is a worrisome sign."

Silver, in 12/73-2/74 was noted as moving due to monetary/inflation concerns from $1.30/oz to $6.70/oz. Silver companies mentioned were, Fresnillo, Helca Mining, and Rosario.

Higher inflation, monetary turmoil and legal barriers to Gold ownership caused price to soar from $37.39/oz in 1971 to $850.00/oz in 1980. Gold companies mentioned were, Homestake Mining, G.M. Buffelsfontein, ASA Limited, Vaal Reefs.

Interesting was the fact that Oil had shortages due to 1973-1974 Arab oil embargo and government regulations caused price to rise from $3.89/bbl in '73 to $9.47/bbl in '78.

So, if we could assume in 1980, Oil was say $12.00/bbl, we know Gold was $850.00/oz.

Today Oil trades around the $106.00/bbl range with Gold hovering near $1000.00 per ounce. That is quite a difference between the Oil & Gold in these two eras.

NTERESTING eh?