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Inflation vs gold
Has gold preserved purchasing power? Compare gold's nominal return to CPI inflation, with an inflation-adjusted 'real' gold series overlay.
Inflation vs gold
Has gold preserved purchasing power? Index series with Dec 06 = 100. Showing 202 months through Sep 26.
Gold: monthly Yahoo Finance GC=F close · CPI: BLS CUUR0000SA0 · synced 2026-11-03. Real return = nominal return − CPI inflation over the same window.
Reading nominal vs real returns
A nominal return measures dollars; a real return measures purchasing power. Gold's job as an inflation hedge is judged in real terms — if the CPI rises 80% over a period and gold rises 90%, the real return is only about +5.5%, not 90%.
Historical bottom-line: across 25-year windows, gold has consistently delivered positive real returns. Over shorter windows (1-3 years) it can lose to inflation in nominal-strong USD periods. This is why gold is treated as a long-term store of value, not a short-term inflation play.