Stealth Rally

While the S&P 500 has been riding on the seemingly endless 1130-1040 merry-go-round in recent months, gold has staged a stealth rally.  Since the middle of July, dip buyers largely disenchanted by the seesaw action in equities have been welcomed with open arms by the shiny metal.
As a result of this virtually uninterrupted march higher, historical volatility has tumbled off a cliff to its lowest levels in years (8%).  Not that this is all that revealing, as just about any steady uptrend is accompanied with declining volatility.  At the same time implied vol is reticent to drop below 16% which has acted as a consistent floor over 2010. 

In addition to the SPDR Gold Shares shown above, we're also seeing the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) pop to new all time highs.  Suffice it to say, those that have stuck with the gold trade are certainly reaping their rewards.

For related content, readers can check out:
Gaming the Gold Bugs Redux