Are Safe Haven Assets Becoming Extinct?

Vector graph showing an investor grappling with bearish market

Source: Dreamstime

Reading time: 5 minutes

In a matter of months, the COVID-19 pandemic grew from a considerable health threat to a global financial crisis. What followed was a torrent of sell-offs and fund transfers to so-called safe havens, such as gold, government bonds, and the Japanese yen, which quickly weakened the stock markets to an extent comparable only to the worst of market recessions.

The en masse and almost simultaneous investor migration from medium- and high-risk financial instruments to traditionally strong assets in times of crisis inevitably had us asking the question: what are the hidden risks of investing in safe havens in 2020?

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