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On this day — November 15, 2020
Sunday — the international gold market is closed. Spot quotes carry forward from the prior Friday close. Retail rates in jewellery markets may differ slightly based on local Sunday hours.
Day 320 of 366 · Q4 2020 · 87.4% through the year
November 2020 gold market: Vaccine breakthroughs knock gold lower
BearishThe year's worst month as vaccines triggered a risk-on rotation.
November delivered gold's worst month of 2020. A series of highly effective COVID vaccine announcements, beginning with Pfizer–BioNTech on November 9, rotated investors out of safe havens and into reopening trades, pulling gold down to roughly $1,775.
The vaccine news was a textbook 'good news is bad news' moment for gold. By dramatically improving the economic outlook, the breakthroughs reduced the need for safe-haven insurance and lifted bond yields, both headwinds for a non-yielding asset. Yet the drop to ~$1,775 never threatened the structural bull case — money supply was still surging and real yields stayed deeply negative. Buyers who treated the vaccine dip as an opportunity rather than a top were vindicated within weeks.
What drove gold in November 2020
- Pfizer/Moderna vaccine breakthroughs
- rotation into risk assets
- rising bond yields
- gold-ETF outflows
Key events in November 2020
- Nov 9Pfizer announces 90%+ vaccine efficacy; gold drops hard
- Nov 16Moderna vaccine data adds to the safe-haven selloff
What happened next
Gold recovered through December as fresh stimulus and a weak dollar reasserted the bull case.
For gold buyers
The vaccine-driven drop to ~$1,775 was the year's second great entry point for long-term buyers who looked past the reopening euphoria.
Key terms this month
- Risk-on / risk-off:
- Market sentiment shifts: 'risk-on' favours stocks and cyclicals; 'risk-off' favours safe havens like gold.
- Good news is bad news:
- When improving economic news hurts an asset — here, vaccines lifting yields weighed on gold.
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