That's because the stock and bond markets occupied center stage, as investors focused on what would happen to those asset classes in the wake of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate hike.
Now that the dust has settled from the Fed's decision, perhaps gold will make it back onto investors' radar screens.
It wasn't as though gold didn't try to capture investors' attention last week. On June 29, the day before the Fed's move, gold bullion dropped by some $10 per ounce -- more than enough, if last week had been a normal week, to get investors to sit up and take notice.
But, to state the obvious, last week was not a normal week.
In the expectation that this coming week will be one in which investors do sit up and take notice, I'm devoting this column to a contrarian assessment of sentiment among gold-timing newsletters.
Not to bury my lead too much: Gold market sentiment has deteriorated in recent weeks. Contrarians would be much more confident that gold is in a bull market if gold timers were more skeptical than they currently are.
I base this assessment on the latest readings from the Hulbert Gold Newsletter Sentiment Index (HGNSI), which reflects the average recommended portfolio exposure to the gold market among a subset of gold-timing newsletters. As of last Friday's close, the HGNSI stood at 46.2 percent.
To be sure, while this 46.2 percent reading is higher than where the HGSNSI has been on almost all other days over the past seven months, it still is lower than the HGNSI's all-time high reading of near 90 percent.
But the source of concern is not the HGNSI's absolute level but how it has reacted during recent market corrections. For example, the HGNSI didn't budge last week, despite gold's break. Nor did it move down in early June, when gold suffered a similar break.
This represents a big change in the underlying mood of many gold timers, and is not an encouraging sign. It suggests that at least a core group of bullish gold timers have dug in their heels. And, as contrarians constantly remind us, stubborn bullishness is more a sign of a market top than a market bottom.
Contrast what happened last week and in early June with how gold-timing newsletters reacted in April and the first half of May, when bullion dropped by more than $50 per ounce. Then the HGNSI dropped nearly 40 percentage points -- from 46.9 percent to 7.7 percent. That suggested that gold timers were relatively quick to throw in the towel on their gold investments.
Or consider what happened late last year. Between early December and early January, while gold bullion was RISING by some $20 per ounce, the HGNSI was DROPPING by some 40 percentage points. That's the sort of action that makes a contrarian turn into a passionate bull.
Unfortunately, the HGNSI's recent behavior is markedly different from those two earlier instances.
Let me hasten to add that, even if this analysis turns out to be correct, it doesn't mean that gold must enter into a primary bear market. The market weakness that is foreshadowed by the sentiment data might turn out to be relatively short-term, after all.
It will be key to see how advisers react in the wake of coming weakness. If the stubborn bulls relent and throw in the towel, that would be an encouraging sign.
But if they continue to remain bullish come what may, and especially if more timers become stubbornly bullish with them, then a more significant decline in the gold market becomes increasingly likely.