World Gold Council: Gold prices fluctuate little and exhibit asymmetric performance compared to stocks.

The World Gold Council has published an article highlighting gold's price volatility: Gold is an excellent diversification tool for investment portfolios, not because of its low price volatility, but because its performance differs significantly from that of stocks and bonds. While gold as an asset is less volatile than some stock indices, other commodities, or substitutes, it has seen gains approaching 30% in some years (2010) and losses approaching 30% in others (2013). It sometimes underperforms in the medium term, but overall, there is an asymmetry between gold and stocks. In other words, gold performs much better when stocks fall and worse when stocks rise. (Jinshi)