The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that central bank rate cuts have been positive for bonds and dividend-paying stocks, but gold has been outshining bonds and dividend paying stocks. The Globe's David Berman writes that U.S. inflation eased and the Federal Reserve lowered its key interest rate, boosting bond prices. Exchange traded funds like the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF saw a rally of up to 10 per cent in the past year. Yardeni Research's Ed Yardeni argued in August that strong economic indicators would undermine expectations for aggressive rate-cutting by the Fed. He says, "The bond market seems to agree with our view that the Fed may be stimulating an economy that doesn't need it." If bonds and dividend-paying stocks, however, are now frustrating investors, gold is offering an alternative view of a future where inflation and geopolitical tensions persist. Gold is up 32 per cent over the past eight months, to $2,753. Hugo Ste-Marie, a strategist at Bank of Nova Scotia, argued in a note that gold will also be a strong bet if the U.S. presidential election results turn messy. Mr. Berman believes bonds and dividend-paying stocks still look promising, but gold looks hard to beat.