Brendan McCurdy: Safe havens, trend following, and the coronavirus crisis

Quite a few investors who have held gold for years, relying on it as an asset class to outperform in periods of market stress and panic, have been disappointed with its lacklustre performance during the coronavirus drawdown. In the month of March the MSCI World dropped 13.2%, its 4th worst monthly performance on record trailing only October 2008 of the Global Financial Crisis, October 1987 of Black Monday, and in a near tie with August 1998 of the Russian Ruble Crisis and LTCM blow-up. Meanwhile, gold was up 0.8% in March, disappointing many who bought it as a hedge. It wasn't just go...