A signal from the Federal Reserve could be bearish for gold in U.S. dollar terms, Dennis Gartman, editor of The Gartman Letter, said Monday on CNBC.
"I'm still a monetarist. I still look at the adjusted base, and the base has not grown at all over the course of the past 14 months," he said on "Fast Money." "It may start again, but it hasn't been for the last 14 months. And therein takes the case for gold in dollar terms away."
Gartman called comments in the FOMC meeting minutes – which raised questions about monetary policy – "extraordinary."
"We are simply not creating the dollars that everybody thought we should be, and gold in dollar terms has been weak," he said. "Gold in yen terms, however, is only a couple of pennies away from its all-time high, a completely different story."
Gartman said he would look to materials.
"What I'd really like to own is steel," he said, adding that iron ore was another attractive play. "I want to own simple things, the simple things that are incumbent on global economic growth."
Trader disclosure: On Jan. 7, 2013, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Joe Terranova is long VRTS; Joe Terranova is long TJX; Joe Terranova is long AAPL; Joe Terranova is long GS; Joe Terranova is long MS; Joe Terranova is long GLW; Joe Terranova is long DELL; Joe Terranova is long VZ; Joe Terranova is long XOM; Josh Brown is long AAPL; Josh Brown is long C; Josh Brown is long JPM; Josh Brown is long WFC; Josh Brown is long GLD; Josh Brown is long GDX; Josh Brown is long XLU; Josh Brown is long TLT; Josh Brown is long XLF; Josh Brown is long WMT; Josh Brown is long TGT; Stephanie Link is long AAPL; Stephanie Link is long GS; Stephanie Link is long WFC; Stephanie Link is long SBUX; Stephanie Link is long GE; Ron Sloan is long K; Ron Sloan is long PGR; Ron Sloan is long MSFT; Ron Sloan is long GE; Ron Sloan is long SYMC.
