The Yellow Metal CrazeThe yellow metal is considered one of the most valuable assets in the world and considered the best store of value against inflation, low interest rates and any uncertainty. Interestingly, unlike other conventional investments, the metal does not pay dividends or interest to its buyers. Nevertheless, the price of gold is increasing at such a breakneck pace that investors are generally not lost when investing in the gold sector these days. Unlike the times when only queens and princesses had access to the precious metal, gold is now sold and bought on open markets in small and large quantities. The price of the yellow metal was $20 per ounce in 1883, $260 in 2001 and $300 in 2003, $500 in December 2005 and $1,208.75 per ounce on July 9, 2010. Despite the rise constant prices, the appetite of retail investors and consumers has not yet slowed down. Instead, it rose again. The significant increase in investment demand, in coins and bars, has offset the decline in demand for gold jewelry, as investors seek refuge in gold. Jewelry's share as an end user of gold has declined from 80% to just over 60% (but its appetite in China and India, the two largest consumers of gold, is growing). Global investment demand, according to Mining Weekly estimates, jumped from 885 T in 2008 to 1,820 T at the end of 2009, a gain of 105% and a record increase. The demand for gold jewelry is high in South Asia, East Asia and the Middle East. Women of the subcontinent used gold as adornment and/or a store of value. Intelligent housewives prefer their savings in gold jewelry rather than keeping them in the form of cash and these are passed on, in the form of gifts, to daughters and sons at the time of marriage. In the subcontinent, the marriage ceremony is uncommon.... . middle of paper ......a common practice in India and Pakistan and very popular among housewives. They sold old jewelry or exchanged it for new jewelry in order to follow current fashions. As most of them cannot afford to buy a new jewelry set, ring or necklace, they just exchange their old fashioned gold jewelry for new ones and are also ready to pay extra for this exchange. Old-fashioned jewelry is also sold in the market to raise cash for households in need. As the race for gold prices continues, scrap metal sales jumped to 1,674 tons last year, up from 986 tons in 2003. Finally, with the easing of the financial crisis in the West and the stability of the value of the dollar, and as developed economies move gold out of the recession cage, the price of the yellow metal is likely to be retreaded to a new level. Gold prices should not fall, otherwise.