Enhancement of Dual Momentum with Just Three Assets?

In response to “Review of Dual Momentum with Just Three Assets”, a subscriber suggested adding gold in competition with long-term U.S. Treasury bonds as a safe haven from equities. To test this potential enhancement of Accelerating Dual Momentum (ADM), we each month:

1. Calculate for each of SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), iShares MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF (SCZ), iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT) and SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) the sum of its 1-month, 3-month and 6-month past returns.
2. If sums for both SPY and SCZ are negative, buy the one of TLT and GLD with the higher sum.
3. If both sums for SPY and SCZ are not negative, buy the one with the higher sum.

Using end-of-month dividend-adjusted prices of these ETFs during December 2007 (limited by SCZ) through April 2020, we find that: (more…)