Gold and Terror

Today is the 6th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist acts in 2001. So it might seem an appropriate date to discuss the relationship between the price of Gold and geopolitical risks.

In general I tend to favor the liquidity factor as an explanation for high gold prices, as well as the link with the oil price, but ironically last week took place the most spectacular rise in the price of gold that I have witnessed since 2006.
Was it related to the anniversary of 9/11.

My first instinct was to relate it to the weakness of stock markets (with some lag), the crisis of liquidity and the particularly weak jobs statistics in the US on Friday.
But many see a relationship with geopolitical risk, and from there you might even create whole conspiracy theories about the price of Gold and the manipulation of the market by the central banks.

I think it is fun, and partly true in the short run. But in the long run, the gold price is dependent on more fundamental factors.