GOLD AND INVESTMENT

Janet Yellen holds the key to what comes next.

Updated from Feb. 9

The stock market is having a horrible time so far in 2016, with the S&P 500 down more than 9%. Gold, on the other hand, is up nearly 10% year-to-date and hit a four-month high of just under $1200 per ounce on Monday before dipping 0.7% Tuesday to $1189.30. (Update: Gold surgedto as high as $1,242.26 an ounce Thursday, the highest level since February 2015, as the dollar stumbled followingJanet Yellen’s Congressional testimony on Wednesday.)