The U.S. dollar has been weakening all year in a sign of possible threats to its global standing. Meanwhile, gold is having its day in the sun, rising above $4,000 an ounce for the first time on Tuesday and poised for what some analysts think will be levels

near $5,000 by the end of next year.

The U.S. currency’s depreciation against major peers since January has more to do with investors’ decisions to hedge the risks of a depreciating American currency rather than a choice to sell all U.S. assets, according to Marc Chandler, a strategist and managing director at Bannockburn Capital Markets in New York. This distinction is important because it points to a more cyclical rather than a longer-lasting, structural reason behind the current decline of the dollar.