Which of the following are least correlated?

Question

Which are least correlated between oil, gold, and the Nasdaq? My guess is oil and gold. For one, if oil goes up then Nasdaq will fall because of production costs (negative correlation). If gold goes up that means people are not investing in Nasdaq (negative correlation). That only leaves oil and gold, which I have no reason to believe have any correlation.

Is this the right logic?

Answer 1

Partly right. A few of companies in the Nasdaq would fall due to increased production costs, but for an index is the least correlated because it is highly composed of technology companies which are the least correlated to the commodity costs. Also, the other answer was right in that oil and gold are highly correlated because of the commodity trade. Intraday, there is a near direct correlation on the major trends. Note that Gold is often used as a "fear" fund. When people fear the market will fall, investors commonly use gold as a safe haven for investment (relates to the inverse relationship between oil and the market).

Over 1 year:

QQQQ (Nasdaq 100) vs USO (US Oil Fund) ----   -38% correlation

QQQQ vs GLD  -----    -76% correlation

GLD vs USO -----    65% correlation

**If you use SPY (S&P500) instead of Nasdaq, the correlations become stronger

SPY vs USO ----  -71%

SPY vs GLD ----  -76%

---> Use the source below to check out correlations