Ahead of the Fed announcement on Wednesday, Peter Boockvar, managing director and equity strategist for Miller Tabak + Co., pointed out that in terms of gold, the S&P 500 is down 6 percent in 2009.
He noted that, with gold hitting another all-time high, the S&P 500 buys just 0.96 ounces of gold. This is down from 1.02 ounces of gold on December 31st. Boockvar added that the index is down 72 percent in terms of gold since February 1998, when the S&P first crossed the 1038 level.
The comments come ahead of the Fed's regular policy announcement, due out Wednesday afternoon. The low interest rates and extensive liquidity programs the Fed put into place to help stem the recession have raised concerns about inflation.
These worries have been cited as a reason for gold's historic rise recently, as investors look for a place to sit in case the dollar loses its value.
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