Fed chairman Bernanke: 'I don't understand gold price'

Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, has said he does not understand gold prices or why investors hold it during certain economic environments.

As one of the most powerful central bankers in history, and widely known as a leading scholar on the causes of the Great Depression, most would expect Bernanke to have a grasp on all things economic, including what drives the price of the world's most precious metal. However, at a Senate Banking Committee hearing yesterday, Bernanke said many of the assumptions made about gold are not backed up by data, adding he "did not understand" why the asset's price moves as it does. "Nobody really understands gold prices and I don't pretend to really understand them either," Bernanke said. O...