It’s another week of lost luster for gold at the expense of a charging dollar whose strength could barely be explained with the currency debasement expected from President-elect Joe Biden’s proposed $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus. U.S. markets swirled in a sea of red toward Friday’s close from woeful December numbers for everything from retail sales to producer price index, manufacturing and consumer sentiment. Joining the doleful party was gold, which was supposed to be the “safe-haven” — or hedge or panacea, whatever you called it — from this. Gold for February delivery on New York’s Comex settled Friday’s official session at $1,829.90 an ounce, down $21.50, or 1.2%. While the benchmark gold futures contract dipped just 0.3% on the week, that loss added to last week’s slide of 3.2% — handing the precious metal its worst two weeks in a row since November. Even more remarkable than gold’s slide was the dollar’s stand-alone party amid the gloom across stocks and commodities. Supposedly a haven in its own right, the Dollar Index, pitted against a basket of six other major currencies, rose 0.6% on the day to show a reading of 90.7. The greenback had started the year at below 90 but could head above 91 by next week, some forex dealers said. The dollar was an outlier on Friday despite a tumble in bond yields associated with the benchmark U.S. 10-year U.S. note, whose resurgence last week had been the catalyst for the greenback’s comeback.