Why The Current Bull Market In Gold Is Bigger Than The One In The 1970s

By Simit Patel:Many of us in the gold bug community who have been holding on to our bullion and select stocks for at least several years now have been doing so in anticipation of a mania. I elaborated on this concept in my previous post entitled, "Why The Current Bull Market In Gold Is Bigger Than The One In The 1970s."

By Lee Eugene Munson:Bonds may be the safe play, since clearly everyone has been piling into them, right? Remember that the best performing ETFs last year were long-dated U.S. treasuries like ZROZ and TLT.

By Simit Patel:I should begin by noting that I did make this proclamation before, and was wrong: in fact, last year I lost some money attempting to short long-dated US Treasury bonds (TLT).

By David Pinsen: Treasury Yields Near All-Time Lows One of the striking developments in the markets over the last week has been the plunge in Treasury yields to record lows. Among the financial professionals highlighting this milestone on Twitter was hedge fund manager Tim Knight: Fun Fact: Interest rates on 10-year and 30-year U.S. debt isn't just at a 5-year or 10-year low. It's at a 220-year low (i.e. all time) $TLT

MyPlanIQ submits:First, let's review the markets: For the week ending on 5/20/2011, the notable developements among major assets include:

Jarred Cummans submits:There was a time not that long ago when investors harbored significant concerns over including fixed income ETFs within their portfolio. When the first bond ETFs were introduced many were uncertain that the marriage of fixed income and the exchange-traded structure would be an efficient and productive one. But as these securities have built a track record, the investor comfort level has skyrocketed, along with total fixed income assets.

Tom Lydon submits: An exchange traded fund tracking long-dated Treasury bonds has pulled back somewhat after hitting its high for the year last week with investors scaling back risk in their portfolios.Despite all the chatter about the debt ceiling and inflation, iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (NYSEArca: TLT) is up 4% year to date.(Click charts to expand)

MyPlanIQ submits:Last week, among major bond ETFs, municipal bonds recovered the most. Emerging market bonds had the biggest loss (-0.8%). It is noteworthy that emerging market bonds have been weak: the proxy ETF PCY lost -5.75% in the last 13 weeks. More performance can be found here.