The copper-to-gold ratio is one of the untold wonders of market analysis if you want to know how the global economy is doing and here is what it is saying these days.

Copper is an industrial metal where demand increases during periods when economic output is rising while gold is a store of value with limited industrial applications and these differing uses of the metals have allowed the CGR to act as an accurate barometer of global growth.

The Copper:Gold ratio (CGR) is calculated by dividing the market price of copper by the market price of gold.

• A declining copper:gold ratio shows a weakening economy, while a rising ratio shows a strengthening economy.
• The secret to understanding this ratio is not its current value, however. What's much more important is the directional trend of the chart.

Below are charts of the price of copper since 2009, the price of gold during that same period and their relationship as per the CGR.

COPPER

GOLD

When gold prices are high it signals the economy is not healthy. Investors buy gold as protection from either an economic crisis or inflation. Low gold prices mean the economy is healthy. Investors have many other more profitable investments like stocks, bonds, or real estate.

COPPER:GOLD RATIO

The CGR:

• was UP 66% from mid-2016 until the end of 2018 (economic expansion)
• but is DOWN 49% since then (economic contraction).

TNX

The yield on 10-year Treasury Notes (TNX) also tends to rise during economic expansion because investors’ inflation expectations are on the rise. The yield of the 10-year US Treasury bond is as follows:

The TNX:

• was UP 137% from mid-2016 until November 2018 (economic expansion)
• but is DOWN 77% since then (economic contraction).

Conclusion

There should be a positive relationship between the copper-gold price ratio and 10-year yields. Both should be rising and falling based on the state of the world economy so the recent weakness of both the CGR and the TNX suggest that economic growth is weak going forward.