Disappointment has greeted gold investors since the early 1980s who purchased gold in the hope of owning an appreciating asset.  However, this trend is less damning for gold when viewed in a long-term historical context.  One way to get such a view is to examine the ratio of the DOW to the price of gold over a long period.   Historically, the price of gold and the stock market are counter-cyclical.  The graph below shows gold and equities investor sentiment during peaks and troughs in the cycle.

The ratio of the DOW to the price of gold approaches one to one toward the end of periods of financial insecurity brought on by excessive and prolonged inflation or deflation during which owners of capital have sold equities and bonds and purchase gold as a means of capital preservation.  During the previous two peaks in the equities markets in the 1920s and 1960s, the ratio was 19 to one and 27 to one respectively.  The current top in the equities markets marks a new peak in the gold/DOW ratio, now 37 to one.