Oil price Fluctuation, Gold Returns and Inflationary Pressure: An Empirical Analysis Using Cointegration Approach

Given that oil and gold prices are the major representative for commodity market, they both play a crucial role in determining the level of consumption, industrial production and investment due to the direct effect by the changes in their prices. In addition, both oil and gold prices have inflationary pressure which has a direct impact on countries economic growth. Therefore, it is of crucial practical significance to analyze their cointrgration relationships to understand the co-movement of both prices. To do so, this paper aims to examine the impact of oil price fluctuation on gold prices taking into account the inflationary pressure in the United States (US). Using monthly data from April, 1986 to September, 2018, Johansen multivariate cointegration test procedure and vector error correction model (VECM) have been employed to examine the long-run relationship between the variables in the US. The key findings suggest that there is a significant positive long run relationship between crude oil prices, gold prices and inflation. In the short run, the impact of any changes in crude oil prices will have a delayed effect on the prices of gold, while the impact of inflation in not different from zero. In addition, both gold prices and inflation are found to have no impact on gold prices in the short run. The findings of this research are important for investors, portfolio managers, corporate houses, crude oil traders, the government and policy makers.