The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Barrick Gold's $1,200 gold price assumption looked conservative at the start of the year when gold was trading at $1,300 (all figures U.S.). The Globe's Niall McGee writes that now, it does not look conservative enough. A common refrain among gold bugs after the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 was that the next leg of the gold bull market would be driven by hyperinflation, fuelled by quantitative easing (printing money) from central banks that would cause the United States dollar to crash. That doomsday scenario never panned out. Instead, inflation has remained largely in check in recent years and rising U.S. interest rates have helped push the U.S. dollar higher. A stronger greenback tends to exert downward pressure on gold prices, since the metal's many non-U.S. buyers in places such as India and China are facing higher prices. Gartman Letter editor Dennis Gartman says, "[The U.S. Federal Reserve] erring on the side of tighter monetary policy is clearly detrimental to the gold market." Perhaps an even more worrying trend for gold aficionados is the precious metal is no longer seen as the default haven investment when geopolitical tensions flare.