SSgA SPDR Gold Shares

Gold certainly can be an inflation hedge, and it has worked in the past. Obviously, one of the reasons gold has been weak of late is that people are becoming less concerned about inflation.

The junior mining space is very risky, given very limited options in terms of mines and their involvement in early stages. So it’s very important to identify the right junior stock.

In practice, asset owners (both retail and institutional) want to avoid significant portfolio drawdowns even if the benchmark index declines.

A cap was put in place to stop the currency’s appreciation. An appreciating local currency is detrimental to exporters.

In 2018, 3,503 metric tons of gold were produced globally, 1.8% higher than in 2017. Let’s look at the world’s top gold-producing countries.

The gold price increase kept pace with the global money supply until recently. The relationship between the two appears to have broken.

Kenneth Cordele Griffin is the CEO of investment management firm Citadel Advisors LLC. He is the hedge fund manager and he founded Citadel in 1990. 

China continued buying gold for the tenth consecutive month in September. The country also continued its de-dollarization bid.

Last week (ended September 20), gold rose 1.1% and settled at $1,507.30 per ounce. Meanwhile, the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) rose 2%.

Gundlach thinks that we’ve already seen a bottom in interest rates for 2019. US Treasury yields have been hitting lows in 2019.

Gold hit a fresh six-year high on Friday as trade tensions between the US and China escalated. The SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) closed up 2%.

JPMorgan Chase suggests waiting until September before returning to stocks. The markets will likely make new all-time highs in the first half of 2020.

The US Dollar Index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of other currencies, has risen 2.2% in the past month.

Although the US doesn’t export much crude oil to China, the additional supply of cheap Iranian oil could pressure both Brent and WTI crude prices.

Increased shareholder returns were the main motivation behind the Newmont Mining and Goldcorp merger.

During DoubleLine’s investor webcast on June 13, Jeffrey Gundlach said, “I am certainly long gold.” His call on gold is based on his expectation that the US dollar (UUP) will finish lower this year.

Gold miners usually act as a leveraged play on gold prices. In 2018, the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) fell 9.3%, amplifying the 1.9% fall in gold prices (GLD).

Barrick has reduced its debt more than 57% in the last four years from $13.4 billion at the end of 2014 to $5.7 billion at the end of 2018.

Barrick Gold (GOLD) reported AISC of $788 per ounce and a cost of sales of $980 per ounce in the fourth quarter.

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) chair Warren Buffett has never been a fan of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

When it comes to investing in stocks, Berkshire Hathway’s (BRK.A) chair, Warren Buffett, and Bridgewater’s founder, Ray Dalio, have similar advice.

Newmont Mining (NEM) reported its fourth-quarter earnings results before the market opened on February 21.

According to the gold demand trend released by the World Gold Council on January 31, annual gold demand increased by 4% in 2018.

I bet you may have heard a lot about investing defensively while the market faded.

Markets had been worried about the Fed’s continued aggressive stance on rate hikes, which could shorten economic expansion.

Gold ended the day almost flat on Wednesday, May 2, and closed at $1,304.90 per ounce.

At 4:00 AM EST on January 26, the West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March 2018 delivery were trading at $65.44 per barrel—a drop of 0.11%.

Investors (SPX-INDEX) around the world looked to gold (GLD) (IAU) for the rescue during the slump in bitcoin prices.

Precious metals prices shot up on January 19, 2018, with concerns looming over the shutdown the of the US government.

At 4:00 AM EST on January 24, the West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March 2018 delivery were trading at $64.50 per barrel—a gain of 0.05%.

The founders of bitcoin have set a limit of 21 million bitcoins that can be mined over a period of time. Of those, 16.8 million are already in circulation.

At 5:55 AM EST on January 23, the West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March 2018 delivery were trading at $63.88 per barrel—a gain of 0.49%.

The US dollar rose 0.18% on Tuesday, January 9, 2018, which led to the lower price of spot gold (GLD) and silver.

Although most of the upswing in precious metals has been due to the rise in geopolitical risks in 2017, the dollar has been the most crucial factor.

When analyzing platinum markets, it’s important to compare the metal’s performance with that of gold, which is the most crucial of the precious metals.

All four precious metals had an up day on December 20, 2017. Gold increased 0.43% on the day and closed at $1,267.80 per ounce.

Gold and silver are strong early on December 20. The lower global risk appetite and weak US dollar are supporting gold prices in the early hours.

Precious metals and miners saw some relief on December 13 after the Fed raised rates as expected. Sibanye Gold (SBGL), Aurico Gold (AUQ), and Goldcorp (GG) rose 3.5%, 3.6%, and 5.8%, respectively.

Investors have their eyes set on the interest rates. A rise in the interest rates causes the demand for precious metals to fall.

The US stock markets were closed on Thursday, November 23, 2017, for Thanksgiving, and the next day (Black Friday) was quite slow for precious metals. Gold played in a narrow range that day.

After a substantial slump on Monday, gold futures for December delivery rose 0.5% on Tuesday and closed at $1,281.7 per ounce.

Bitcoin has been rallying for the past year, with some proponents advocating that it could replace fiat currencies in the future.

For India, gold imports have fallen 16% in value to ~$2.9 billion in October 2017 compared to $3.5 billion in the corresponding month last year.

In the bitcoin world, mining involves investing a lot of capital in computer hardware and competing with fellow miners to solve a complex mathematical problem.

The idea behind bitcoin is simple: to create a new platform for transactions that are independent of central banks and involve minimal transaction costs.

Geopolitical events like the tensions with North Korea helped drive the price of gold higher in September 2017.

All four precious metals rose on Monday, October 30, as multiple speculations in the market gripped investors’ attention.

Investor complacency doesn’t hide the fact that there are financial risks to QT. Forty percent of the Fed’s balance sheet unwind is in mortgage-backed securities at the same time that the housing market is showing signs of slowing.

Ongoing worries in North Korea and political chaos in Washington have been crucial in boosting the prices of precious metals.

Among the miners that we’re looking at in this part of the series, Sibanye Gold has the lowest correlation to gold on a YTD basis, while Gold Fields has the highest correlation to gold.