Inflation is still by no means going gangbusters, but nascent signs that prices are starting to rise should have investors thinking about gold as a portfolio hedge.

Crude oil has rallied by about 50% since its February lows; the S&P/Case-Shiller housing-price index posted a 5.7% rise in January; and the Consumer Price Index for February showed that core inflation (minus food and energy costs) increased by 2.3% year-over-year for a post-Great Recession high. The 2% threshold is key because thats the Federal Reserves stated inflation target.

Several regional presidents of the central bank have been warning of rising prices, most recently John Williams of the San Francisco branch, and their caveats on inflation have become all the more imperative given Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellens overtly dovish speech before the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday.

The recent data reinforce my expectation that inflation is on track to move back to 2% over the next two years, Williams said in Singapore this week.

Oil could light inflationary fire: Some big investment firms also are issuing analyses urging clients not to underestimate inflation. It is naveto ignore the potential risk that themarket could be surprised by higherinflation rates, wrote Investec Asset Managements Philip Saunders.

Our modelssuggest inflation and wages will befirm going forward and our commodityteam believes that robust oil demandand a material decline in oil supply willprovide support to the oil price.

If thereis a more sustained oil price recovery,consistent with our commodity teamsforecast of approximately US$60 perbarrel, there is a meaningful risk thatinflation could even overshoot to theupside.

Gold, TIPS for diversifiers: And the Pacific Investment Management Co., or PIMCO, also told its clients that inflation could be back on the move, with strategist Anthony Crescenzi recommending Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, or TIPS, to offset rising prices. Markets are not fully priced for this reflation idea, he said.

But TIPS arent the only weapon against inflation. Capital Economics has attributed golds 16% rise this year at least partially to growing inflation expectations.

BlackRock also thinks gold is a good bet. Stabilizing oil prices and a tighter labor market could contribute to rising actual, and expected, U.S. inflation, said its global chief investment strategist, Richard Turnill. We like inflation-linked bonds and gold as diversifiers.

Stagflation nightmare ahead?: Of course, there is another potential end result besides inflation or deflation (recession), and thats stagflation, in which rising prices co-exist with slow growth and high unemployment. The U.S. suffered from stagflation in the 1970s, and certain similarities exist between then and now.

For one, U.S. growth is relatively stagnant, stuck in the 2% range or even lower, according to the latest quarterly forecast from the Atlanta Fed. And while the official unemployment rate is 4.9%, the labor-participation rate is near record lows, with 102.5 million working-age Americans currently lacking a job.

Stagflation is on the radar of Bank of America, which recently issued a note saying clients should at least prepare for that eventuality.

While it is not our base case, investors may want to hedge the tail risk of the economy experiencing elements of stagflation realized as rising inflation during stagnating growth, noted BofAs global rates and currencies research team.

Gold outperforms in stagflation: So how should investors prepare for this eventuality? MarketWatch wrote in summarizing the note. According to Bank of Americas historical analysis of market trends, gold, oil and U.S. Treasurys tend to outperform during periods of stagflation, while equities tend to underperform.

So equity bulls, beware: If first-quarter GDP disappoints, as Bank of America expects, one might want to consider buying gold or Treasurys as a hedge.

Given that several current U.S. GDP estimates are running at under 1%, maybe Bank of America is onto something. In any case, should the Fed err and overshoot its 2% inflation target, investors might be happy that they prepared with gold and silver bullion plus rare coins.

Gold rebounded from one-month lows Tuesday after Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen pulled off the unthinkable: issuing an even more dovish speech to the Economic Club of New York than her comments after the Feds March meeting.

Earlier Tuesday, an S&P/Case-Shiller housing-price index got the ball rolling for gold by posting a 5.4% increase for the 12 months ended in January. Why was gold affected? Because rising home prices are the latest indicator that inflation is surfacing in the U.S., and gold is a traditional inflation hedge.

Then Yellen began her speech, and it appears that even the Fed chief herself doesnt know when the next interest-rate hike could be coming. Only gradual increases in the federal funds rate are likely to be warranted in coming years due to economic uncertainties, she said.

Proceed cautiously, Yellen says: Her dovish message flew in the face of recent hawkish comments by several Fed presidents urging more tightening this year.

I consider it appropriate for the committee to proceed cautiously in adjusting policy, Yellen said, citing risks from global developments. This caution is especially warranted because, with the federal funds rate so low, the FOMCs ability to use conventional monetary policy to respond to economic disturbances is asymmetric.

Although Yellen didnt discuss negative interest rates as a potential policy tool, she hinted that more quantitative easing might be on the table if necessary, saying the Fed could increase the size or duration of our holdings of long-term securities.

While these tools may entail some risks and costs that do not apply to the federal funds rate, we used them effectively to strengthen the recovery from the Great Recession, and we would do so again if needed, she said.

Yellen unsure if inflation has legs: One of those risks is inflation, and on that subject Yellen was vague in commenting on the recent uptick in the core Consumer Price Index. It is too early to tell if this recent faster pace will prove durable, Yellen said.

Yellen has doubled down on the dovishness from the March statement and press conference, Neil Dutta of Renaissance Macro Research told Bloomberg. Global economic developments are cited very prominently.

As a result, gold soared 1.4% to hit $1,238, up from Mondays one-month low near $1,208. In late-afternoon trading the price had topped $1,240. Meanwhile, silver was up 0.7% at $15.326 and moving higher in after-hours trading.

“It looks like we may be pricing back in just one interest rate hike. That’s why we’re rallying,” Phillip Streible of R.J. O’Brien told Reuters, while Warwick Valley Financial Advisors President Ken Ford told MarketWatch, From a longer-term-trend perspective, gold may have turned the corner.

Time will tell whether gold can maintain Tuesdays advance, but with the central bank already crawfishing on its rate-hike pace, the odds are with the yellow metal.

To be honest, gold hadnt done much since flirting with the $1,270 level a couple of weeks go. But investors with any sense of golds seasonal patterns will know that March historically has never been a strong month for the yellow metal.

Why? Because the Asian holiday buying that traditionally propels gold higher in January and early February tends to wane after the Lunar New Year holiday, which the Chinese celebrate by purchasing huge quantities of gold jewelry, bars, and coins. This years Lunar New Year peaked on Feb. 8, around the same time that the U.S. stock market hit its lows for the year.

Strong spring rally ahead?: Lunar New Year gold buying is what U.S. Global Investors CEO Frank Holmes has described as The Love Trade, in which gold is accumulated for its festive attributes. Other Love Trade periods include the end of Ramadan in Muslim cultures; Indias Diwali festival; and Judeo-Christianitys Christmas and Hanukkah traditions.

With the Lunar New Years Love Trade over for 2016, accompanied by some renewed momentum in U.S. stocks, its no surprise that gold has eased back from its highs. And yet it remains up about 17% and is still one of this years best-performing assets.

March usually vies with June for the worst month in terms of gold-price performance. Writing about mining equities, Adam Hamilton of Zeal Research might just as well have been speaking of gold bullion when he noted, The red-hot gold stocks have spent most of March in consolidation mode, grinding sideways near their 2016 highs.Interestingly this months rally pause is par for the course seasonally in gold-stock bull markets.Like gold itself, this sector tends to slump to a seasonal low in mid-March before embarking on a strong spring rally in April and May.

Strongest February on record: This correction should not be unexpected, therefore. There are certainly reasons to think that gold could correct, wrote noted gold expert Adrian Day. After all, we have seen a very strong rally, with the strongest February on record; it would be foolhardy to expect that to continue without a pause. The first quarter is seasonally strong, with the April to June period typically soft. Moreover, the speculative net-long positions on the COMEX have increased vastly in recent months, and thus are vulnerable to profit taking.

In fact, current bearish commercial positioning on the gold futures market suggests that further weakness could lie ahead.

Given golds huge bull-market resurgence in 2016 and its well-known seasonal pullback pattern, what should investors do now? Buy the dips, of course. Low interest rates, a dovish Federal Reserve, a peaking dollar, stock-market volatility, and ongoing inflows into precious-metals ETFs all suggest that gold could be set to resume its run higher on any number of catalysts.

I suspect there will be a pullback in the weeks ahead, but it is likely to be shallower and shorter than normal seasonal corrections, certainly than those of the past couple of years, Day added. And after this pullback, gold will recover to move higher this year. We have seen the lows in the long gold bear-market (or super-cycle bull correction, which is how I prefer to view it).

China, Russia seize the dip: Investors around the globe with a longer-term view are indeed buying the pullbacks. The Wall Street Journal just published a March 28 story titled Chinese investors see golden opportunity.

Chinese investors have been snapping up gold bars and coins, overshadowing the usual purchases of gold jewelry and contributing to the metals price rise of 16% from six-year lows in December, it reported. The uncertainty confronting global economies has driven up demand from a different sort of buyer the hard-nosed investor.

Moreover, mainland Chinas bullion imports from Hong Kong are showing signs of recovery.

Russia also is buying on the sovereign level, with the IMF reporting that Moscows central bank bought 356,000 ounces of gold in February to become the largest buyer of the precious metal among the world’s central banks, according to RT.

Silver ETF inflows at 2-year highs: Silver ETF inflows also remain strong despite the slowdown in the metals sector. Investors are buying silver through funds at the fastest pace in more than two years even as prices drop to the lowest in almost a month, Bloomberg reported.

Holdings in silver-backed exchange-traded products jumped 845.6 metric tons in March, heading for the biggest monthly increase since August 2013.

Longer-horizon investors might do well to stick with the same philosophy of buying low now to bank on higher returns later. Though no guarantee of future price performance, golds past seasonal patterns confirm that we shouldnt be surprised by its current pullback nor by more moves higher as the year progresses.

In the wake of a Federal Reserve meeting last week that Goldman Sachs characterized as the most dovish in years, several of the banks regional presidents have made hawkish public statements this week. The end result: The dollar has strengthened, and gold has fallen back to one-month lows near $1,220.

St. Louis Fed chief James Bullard declared that an interest-rate hike could be on the table at the April meeting, while new Philadelphia branch President Patrick Harker said that we need to get on with it.

Recession-like data piling up: These hawkish messages just a week after the Fed scaled back its rate-hike pace from four to two led CNBC to wonder whether Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen might have a mini revolt on her hands.

But the new tough talking on rate hikes looks all for naught. Fresh home-sales data out Wednesday suggest the real-estate market is losing momentum; while a contractionary Markit services PMI report issued Thursday shows that the U.S. economy is going through its worst growth spell for three and a half years … and the worst may be to come as the greatest concern is the near-stalling of new business growth. And even more devastating was a February durable-goods orders report that dropped 2.8%, down for the third time in four months, with core orders extending a 13-month losing streak the longest streak in the history of the series with no recession, Zero Hedge noted.

Gradual pace to support gold: As a result, the Atlanta Fed was forced to downgrade its projection for U.S. growth, putting current GDP at 1.4%, down from an earlier 1.9% estimate. Is declining growth the type of environment in which the Fed can afford to hike rates?

The conflicting back-and-forth among Fed officials appears to be just more razzle dazzle. The Fed comments put a bit of pressure on the gold price but are unlikely to derail a more positive long-term sentiment towards the metal, ABN Amros Georgette Boele told Reuters. If there was a massive rate hike and a jump in the dollar, it would be very difficult for gold to move higher, but any rate increase will be gradual.

ETF holdings still at 2-year highs: Although the media pundits are calling golds drop this week a sign that bullions momentum is fading, the statistics tell otherwise. Bloomberg reported that money is still flowing into gold ETFs and that holdings remain near two-year highs. Its peculiar that ETFs were net buyers even as prices dropped, but the narrative has shifted and remains more supportive for gold, said Bernard Dahdah of Natixis SA.

And on the physical side, Australias Perth Mint, which manufactures the popular gold Kangaroo coin and other bullion products, just reported record profits for the past half year.

Kiyosaki touts gold, silver as shelter: Its only natural that gold prices might dip and consolidate after a roughly 20% run-up in the first two months of the year. The current pullback represents a buying opportunity, and for famed Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki, precious metals offer protection from the 2016 crash that he predicted back in 2002. Were right on schedule, he told MarketWatch in a recent interview.

Kiyosaki wrote in 2002 that the initial wave of retiring baby boomers would strain the retirement system by taking their first required distributions this year en masse.

Kiyosaki is sticking to his guns, saying that Chinas current financial crisis, as well as the Feds trillions in quantitative easing, have set up the conditions for a larger collapse.

The financial expert is urging investors to build a financial ark with gold and silver because the Fed will be forced to print even more money to prop up the markets.

The recent dip back into the $1,220 range for gold (and near $15.20 for silver) offers a tactical opportunity for investors to build the financial ark that Kiyosaki is recommending. HSBC is predicting $1,300 gold by years end, while other analysts see the price going as high as $1,450. Buy low now to sell higher later.

One of the worlds major sovereign producers of gold and silver coins and bullion, the Perth Mint, is reporting record profits for the past two quarters.

The driver? China. In terms of gold bars, cast bars that we are selling, a lot of that is going into Asia, primarily into China, CEO Richard Hayes asserted.

The Chinese remain very, very big buyers of bullion, mainly because they are pretty long U.S. dollars and one of the ways to diversify out of that is to swap those U.S. dollars into gold.

Paper holdings still dwarf gold stash: Thats true on the sovereign level, with Chinas officially reported reserves now at 1,762 tons, the sixth-largest bullion holdings in the world, although some experts think Beijing is vastly underreporting the true size of its gold stash. Moreover, China still has to play a major catchup game in order to boost its gold reserves to a level appropriate enough to back up its roughly $3.2 trillion in foreign-currency reserves.

Gold for heavyweight status: Chinese officials apparently have adopted the philosophy that if youre going to be a heavyweight, you need some heavy metal, noted University of Georgia historian Stephen Mihm in a March 17 Bloomberg op-ed titled Why Canada is dumping gold and China isnt.

A traditional gold-import center for China remains Hong Kong, but as analyst Lawrie Williams has observed, the mainland is increasingly importing gold directly from locales such as Switzerland, completely bypassing Hong Kong in favor of its growing gold hub of Shanghai. (Maybe some of Venezuelas recent gold exports to Switzerland will be finding their way to Asia.)

Cash fleeing China into gold: And its not only Chinas leaders who are trying to get out of U.S. dollars its citizens are trying to elude Chinas own capital controls.

Commenting on a recent Wall Street Journal article titled China, fighting money exodus, squeezes business, CNBC star Jim Cramer commented: The big takeaway from this piece is buy gold, buy gold, buy gold. Why? Because I think a lot of the money thats fleeing China is going into gold. If youre a Chinese investor worried about a slowing economy coupled with a currency that keeps getting devalued, you want to hide your cash in a hard asset thats good at retaining its value in times of economic chaos.

Imports up 1,000% since 2010: Although Chinas major gold-buying holiday, the Lunar New Year, ended in February, its overall demand trend line remains upward, hence the Perth Mints record profits. Chinese imports of gold since 2010 are up more than 1,000%, Bloomberg precious-metals analyst Ken Hoffman noted on March 22.

Thats a whole lot of gold, and that could mean a whole lot more profit reporting at the Perth Mint in years to come.

Asked about Chinas end game regarding gold, author Willem Middelkoop told The Epoch Times: They have a longer-term plan in which gold plays a more prominent role.

They are planning for the next phase of the financial system where gold plays are a more dominant part of the system. I think the Chinese think gold prices will go much higher.

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellens Keynesian credentials are plain to see.

A quick Google search of Janet Yellen Keynesian reveals articles such as Janet Yellen: A Keynesian woman at the Fed (New Yorker, April 3, 2013) and Yellen looks toward a Keynesian approach (Reuters, Feb. 13, 2014).

Keynesian economists, of course, favor easy-money policies in the belief that borrowers can spend their way to prosperity and out of recessions if only central banks keep the monetary spigots flowing and governments provide social and infrastructural programs financed through taxes and government bonds.

While the Fed is purportedly a neutral, independent agency immune from the hue and cry of partisan politicking, an analysis of the campaign contributions of the central banks employees shows that they are indeed voting with their pocketbooks largely in one direction.

Clinton scores biggest Fed donations: A Bloomberg report revealed that as of March 14, Trump hasnt collected a single donation from Fed employees. His GOP rivals did marginally better, with Sen. Ted Cruz getting $2,000 and Sen. Marco Rubio pocketing $750. In contrast, top Democratic contender Hillary Clinton had logged $18,239.

Its no wonder that Trump hasnt received anything from the Fed. On multiple occasions he has accused the central bank of inflating bubbles through artificially low interest rates, maybe even as a favor to President Barack Obama.

The next guy or person who takes over as president could have a real problem, he told Bloomberg, in the form of a recession or worse.

So important to audit the Fed: And even more damaging to his chances of currying favor with these monetary mandarins, Trump also has expressed his support for Audit the Fed legislation. It is so important to audit the Federal Reserve, he tweeted on Feb. 22.

Now New York Post columnist John Crudele has hammered home the obvious inference one can make given the existential threat that an audit poses toward the Fed.

The upcoming election and, especially, the surprising strength of Donald Trump also make it almost impossible for the Fed to boost rates, Crudele wrote on March 24. If Trump gets elected, the Fed will almost immediately be hit by audits that will reveal lots of secret, sinister things.

So Fed Chair Janet Yellen and her fellow central bankers cant do anything like raise the cost of money that might slow the economy down and give Trump a better shot at winning the presidency.

A win-win for gold: Whatever you might think of Trump and numerous analysts say the Republicans presidential policies might actually bloat the national debt, hurt the U.S. corporations via isolationist trade policies, and stoke geopolitical conflict the idea of Clinton winning the presidency cant help but be good for gold.

And the road to electing Clinton, if indeed Crudele is correct in his description of the Feds leanings, means the central bank might well keep in place the low to zero interest-rate policies that have helped pump up the price of gold for most of the past decade.

Presidential election years are often bullish for the yellow metal, and Trumps presence as a serious contender in this race might just up the ante.

By Douglas LePre, Senior Portfolio Manager at Blanchard and Company, Inc.

I recently went to the American Numismatic Association (ANA) National Money Show that took place at the Dallas Convention Center over the March 4 weekend.

I opted to attend as a non-dealer just to see what was really happening in the market.

As a life member of the ANA, admission on Friday was free. Upon arrival I received an ANA member credential to gain access to the show, so that made it a bit easier for me to blend in as an attendee. Even though this show boasts about having more than 500 dealers in attendance, I still found myself leaving the show without having made a single purchase, and I was very underwhelmed. I went to the show with money to spend but ended up leaving with every last cent pun intended.

I also ran into a few issues that, quite frankly, I didn’t expect.

I took the time to walk the entire show, stopping at most all of the tables to see what was on display and what was for sale. Some dealers had items at their tables that they really just want to show off rather than sell, which means they are heavily overpriced!

A few dealers had some beautifully toned coins, but after inquiring about price I felt as though they should have been wearing a mask and six-shooter saying, Stick em up! The prices were ridiculous.

I did see a few other items that piqued my interest, but when trying to gain the attention of the dealers who rented the table, they were either not there or too busy talking to their show neighbor about things other than coins. The reason I know that is because I was standing there being ignored for a long enough period to listen to their conversations. On these occasions, I just moved on.

All in all, there seemed to be more dealer-to-dealer trading than there was selling to the public. That may be due to public attendance being pretty lackluster at least in comparison to shows Ive attended in the past. Or, maybe its yet another sign of how the market is changing.

The highlight of the show for me was having the opportunity to view firsthand some of the amazing coins that came out of the D. Brent Pogue Collection, and I can only compare that experience to walking through the Colosseum in Rome or seeing the Mona Lisa for the first time. It was absolutely like taking a trip back in time completely awe-inspiring! The Proof 1804 Dollar and 1822 Half Eagle were front and center along with many of the other coins from the same collection, and I must say they were some of the nicest coins that I have ever seen brought to market.

In addition, the ANA Museum Showcase display had many items of real interest. One of the many items there was the off-metal 1943-S bronze Lincoln Cent that recently sold at auction for $211,500. I quite frankly was very excited to see this rare error coin, but upon viewing the display, the coin had been mounted vertically underneath a very bright light shining down directly on the coin, which distorted its details. It was a real shame that such an interesting numismatic curiosity was displayed so poorly! This was a lost opportunity for the ANA to generate even more excitement for our hobby because visitors to the show couldn’t really get the impact of this rarity.

As I had not been to a show in a while, I have to say that attending this affair in Dallas reconfirmed that I am blessed to work for one of the largest companies in the coin market. The amazing number of rarities that come through our doors has never been more evident to me than right this very moment.

After walking the show and being privy to the amazing rarities that are still available for sale on any given day, Pogue Collection included, I have complete faith that this market is alive and well. I do, however, think that the market has changed in regards to how people are buying and selling coins. My suggestion to anyone looking to enter the rarities market is to find someone who not only knows the market but also loves what they do, and when you do, stay with them for those very reasons.

All markets over the past 20 years have changed evolution is natural. This market is no different; what some call advancement, others consider regression, so you have to be able to embrace the change as it happens in order to continue to grow with the market.

Auctions have their place, but they also have their shortcomings.

And coin shows seem to me to have become a dealer-to-dealer exchange for the most part, with some bullion trading hands.

While I dont want to be accused of judging a book by its cover, I do think its fair to judge a coin dealer on their available inventory! Quality coins are now where the smart money goes, and the question becomes: How readily can you find them?

Happy hunting!

Almost three months into 2016, nothing has changed. Gold is still up about 16%, although its rally has stalled around $1,260. Meanwhile, the major stock indexes like the Dow Jones and S&P 500 have clawed their way back into positive territory for the year since hitting lows around Feb. 11.

But those who think the worst is over for U.S. and global financial markets and therefore that its time to reduce gold holdings in favor of stocks could be in for a rude awakening.

Housing report tanks: The existing-home sales report for February was the latest wakeup call that the U.S. recovery remains precarious. Sales plunged 7.1% in the largest month-over-month drop since July 2010. Moreover, the National Association of Realtors delivered a somber assessment of the tapped-out American worker.

Home prices and rents outpacing wages and anxiety about the health of the economy are holding back a segment of would-be buyers, observed NARs Larry Yun.

The home-sales report was accompanied Monday by the Chicago Federal Reserves National Activity Index, which contracted back to two-year lows, while last week heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar was forced to issue sales and profit forecasts below analysts expectations.

Secret Shanghai accord at work?: These three reports help suggest that recent stock-market gains are unsupported by economic fundamentals. So whats the reason for the rebound in stocks? Renewed accommodation from central banks, thats what. Some analysts think top bankers secretly agreed at the recent G20 meeting in Shanghai to take the dollar down a couple of notches to juice markets.

To any conspiracy theorists, its all become quite clear, IG strategist Chris Weston wrote. There is a global coordinated central bank effort to weaken the [dollar] in play, which in turn has led to a massive de-risking in equity and credit markets.

Whether or not a conspiracy is the reason for the market surge, Goldman Sachs is calling the Feds unexpected slashing of its interest-rate hike pace from four to two a major dovish surprise for markets, with interest rates declining across the curve and the dollar falling against other developed market currencies.

Desperation of money printing: The Feds dovish stance followed similar moves by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan. This money-printing magic is whats driving stocks higher in recent weeks, argued Jeff Sica of Circle Squared.

Virtually nothing has changed with corporate earnings, he told Fox Business last week. What weve had is three major central banks launch this desperation of money printing, low interest rates, negative interest rates. So what weve seen is not only are these central banks willing to jeopardize the future economies of their respective countries, but they are willing to do just about anything to cover whatever theyre trying to cover and save this market. The problem is what theyre doing is theyre delaying the inevitable. Remember the Fed came out and they said when they were starting to raise interest rates, maybe get some sanity back; they came out and they said that raising interest rates was good for us, normalization. Now Janet Yellen comes out and [is] clearly dovish, clearly against raising interest rates. And now shes telling is that not raising interest rates is good for us. This is a very confused Fed, and when you have a confused Fed, eventually youre going to realize they dont know what theyre doing.

Fed fueled 93% of stock gains since 2008: Central banks are powering the current stock rally, and in fact the Feds trillions of dollars worth of monetary stimulus is responsible for 93% of the gains in equities since 2008, according to economist Brian Barnier, principal at ValueBridge Advisors and founder of FedDashboard.com.

And not everyone is buying this recent rally as the real deal. For one thing, volumes are thin. On rallies like this, we like to see an endorsement from money flow and from value trading and from volume, and thats one aspect of this move that falls a little bit short, Chris Verrone of Strategas Research Partners told CNBC.

Since the Feb. 11 low, average daily volume on the S&P has been about 35% less than what it was in the first four or five weeks of the year.

Not fully confident in S&P: Moreover, ETF fund flows went negative between Feb. 11 and last Friday. This is a sign that people are thinking that the U.S. markets are overbought at these levels, and moving their money to emerging markets and even gold, said Mohit Bajaj of WallachBeth Capital. People are not fully confident that the S&P is going to stay at these levels.

Moreover, a Bank of America note found that in the week ended March 11, the banks hedge fund, institutional and private clients sold $3.7 billion, the most since September and the seventh consecutive week of withdrawals, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan analyst Marko Kolanovic also told CNBC that the rally has been the result of short covering by momentum investors and is not necessarily based on market fundamentals.

And as Mark Hulbert noted at MarketWatch, its not uncommon to see large moves higher during a bear market. Hulbert observed that since 1900, the average major bear market has featured six rallies of at least 5%.

Very little to do with fundamentals: The economic fundamentals simply arent there to sustain the equities rally long-term. The question everyone should be asking is what has really changed in the last three months? saidJohn Canally of LPL Financial Global concerns, while slightly less, are still there.

Im not buying anything;Im sitting on my hands and waiting, addedMichael Woischneck of Lampe Asset Management. I would definitely sell this rally because its totally central-bank driven and has nothing or very little to do with fundamentals.

Too much of a good thing can sometimes come with a downside,” BlackRock strategist Russ Koesterich also warned. The stage could be set for a return of volatility and another selloff.

But its this temporary renewed momentum in stocks that has slowed golds advance. Its also important to note that traditionally, the yellow metals seasonal strength ebbs slightly in March after the Lunar New Year gold-buying holiday is celebrated across China and other Asian countries in early February.

The next week of data will be key to determining where the U.S. economy is headed, with new-home sales, durable-goods orders, and GDP estimates all on tap. And with some top Fed officials still talking up the necessity of raising interest rates as soon as April or June, stocks could face a volatile road ahead if that tightening actually materializes, lifting the veneer off this dead-cat bounce of an equities rebound.