Here ya go, mon. As you suspected, the short timeframe doesn't quite tell the whole story.

As you might see, gold has roughly followed the rises in the U.S. debt level since 2000. On the other hand, you will also surely notice that there were periods in gold's history when the metal traded without visible correlation with the aforementioned debt. In short, the above chart confirms that growing uncertainty linked to the growing debt pile might fuel the price of gold, however it also confirms that markets cannot follow a given economic indicator with reasonable precision at all times and confirms what we've emphasized many times - that fundamental factors can only point you the general direction in which a market is going, but they do not provide timing details.
http://www.safehaven.com/article/21942/will-the-debt-ceiling-debate-coincide-with-the-short-term-ceiling-for-precious-metals
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...a picture is worth...well, you know.

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