SSgA SPDR Gold Shares

Gold reached its two-week high price of $1,294.5 an ounce on Tuesday, October 10, and ended the day at $1292.1 per ounce.

Rising North Korea tensions In the last two months, tensions between the United and North Korea have continued to escalate, with both sides refusing to back down. North Korea has initiated a series of missile and nuclear tests, worsening tension in the region, and the US president has responded to these tests with strong warnings. […]

Precious metals have been buoyed by tension in North Korea. If North Korea does another missile test, it could prompt investors to move to haven assets such as gold, silver, Treasuries, and major currencies.

This week volatility (VXX) has continued to stick to its trend of sudden spikes and then dropping immediately.

Precious metals have maintained upward movement over the past month as geopolitical tensions hover.

In the financial markets, there are a few financial assets whose demand increases dramatically in times of uncertainty.

The last two weeks have been eventful for financial markets (SPY).

Equity markets in the US and across the globe reported heavy losses as risk aversion set in.

The safe havens that benefit the most in times of uncertainty include gold (GLD) and U.S. Treasuries (GOVT).

When reading the platinum market, it’s important to analyze the comparative performance of platinum and gold by using the gold-platinum ratio or spread.

The rise in gold on June 6 also boosted the other three precious metals. Silver futures for August delivery were 1.4% higher for the day and closed at $17.6 per ounce.

India’s trade gap increased 173.5% on a year-over-year basis to ~$13.3 billion in April 2017, beating the market’s expectations of an ~$12.8 billion gap.

Gold futures for June expiration fell 0.47% and ended May 18 at $1,252.8 per ounce. The call implied volatility in gold rose to 11.3%.

After falling to five-week low price levels on May 2, crude oil prices are stable in the early hours on May 3. The market opened higher on Wednesday.

The gold-platinum spread was ~1.3 on April 26, 2017. The gold-platinum spread RSI on that day was 59.

Precious metals had a bright first quarter, which ended March 31, 2017. Gold rose about 8.4%, marking its best quarter in almost a year.

Among the four precious metals, platinum has been the worst-performing precious metal and has seen a year-to-date rise of only 5.8%.

Gold (GLD) and silver (SLW) are weaker in the early hours due to the firmer dollar and expectations of a US interest rate hike in the Fed’s March meeting.

Japan leads the nations with its rising debt-to-GDP ratio. The United States is in seventh place.

Platinum is known for its use in jewelry and as an autocatalyst for diesel-based automobile engines. The demand has been very fragile over the past few years.

The demand for platinum has been very fragile over the past few years, affected by the reduced market forecast for sales of diesel-based vehicles.

In December, the AAOIFI and the WGC (World Gold Council) issued, for the first time, Shari’ah standard to deal with the use of gold (GDX) (GDXJ) as an investment in the Islamic finance industry.

Large speculators and traders continued to reduce their bullish net positions in gold futures markets last week for the eighth consecutive week.

At 5:00 AM EST on December 9, the WTI crude oil futures contract for January 2017 delivery was trading at $51.21 per barrel—a rise of ~0.71%.

Copper prices are stable in the early hours on December 8. China’s upbeat trade balance data are supporting the sentiment in the copper market.

Barrick Gold (ABX) slightly increased its 2016 production guidance to ~5.3 million to ~5.6 million ounces.

Crude oil prices are weaker early on November 29 amid speculations about the supply cuts. Russia confirmed that it wouldn’t attend OPEC’s meeting.

The market is also waiting for the weekly crude oil inventory reports from the U.S. Energy Information Administration and the American Petroleum Institute.

On November 7, the stocks related to base metals rose and precious metal miners weakened. DBB and XME rose 1.3% and 1.8%. GLD fell ~1.8%.

Gold bullion ended September at $1,315.75 per ounce for a 0.5% gain while gold stocks experienced more positive returns. The NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index[1. NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index (GDMNTR) is a modified market capitalization-weighted index comprised of publicly traded companies involved primarily in the mining for gold] (GDMNTR) posted a 3.8% gain, while […]

On the commodities side, we have broad-based commodity benchmark, the Nasdaq Commodity Index, aptly named.

The Fed’s Shifting Stance on Rates The summer doldrums came late this year for gold and gold stocks. Now that the U.K. Brexit decision is old news, the markets are again obsessed with the Federal Reserve’s (the “Fed”) shifting stance on rate decisions. Although the Fed’s tone had been dovish on rate increases following the […]

Kinross Gold (KGC) announced in June 2016 that it was temporarily halting its mining and processing activities at the Tasiast mine in Mauritania.

Billionaire investor George Soros, who said in April 2016 that gold was the only asset that could outperform in the current market environment, is now getting out of gold.

During the 1999–2002 dot-com bubble crisis, the US 2-Year Treasury yield fell by 74%. It made a high of 6.9% in May 2000 and a low of 1.8% in September 2002.

The falling equity market took down the Japanese stock markets too.

According to the EIA’s report on June 22, 2016, US crude oil inventories fell by 0.92 MMbbls (million barrels) for the week ending June 17, 2016.

Hedge funds increased their bets on gold as prices fell after gold’s gains in 1Q16. However, hedge funds and money managers curbed their bets on gold as it fell steadily in May.

In the 1990s and 2000s, when gold prices tracked inflation, although the correlation seems to be a bit weak compared to the 1970s and 1980s.

Generally, gold is viewed as a hedge against rapid inflation and lower interest rates. That makes it hard to value gold as there are no cash flows or earnings associated with it.

After seeing three straight years of losses, gold (GLD) performed extremely well at the beginning of 2016.

Gold (GLD) can be considered an indicator of economic fear and inflation expectations. Driven by these fears, gold gains during equity market turmoil.

Gold gave steady returns to investors for the first two months of 2016 as unrest and instability continued in the markets. However, March started with some ups as well as downs for gold.

Barrick Gold achieved all-in sustaining costs of $831 per ounce for 2015. This AISC was below the 40th percentile of the global industry cost curve.

A rise in the ratio can be correlated the corresponding rise in gold prices. An increase in the ratio indicates that gold is more expensive than crude oil.

Since July 2011, the S&P 500 Index has gained about 62% and touched its high of 2130 in July 2015. During the same period, gold (GLD) has lost about 92%.

While gold miners try to limit their exposure to safe jurisdictions, it’s important to look at geographic exposure and its implications on their prospects.

From the start of 2015 to January 8, 2016, the prices of gold (GLD) have fallen by 7% and the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners Index (GDX) has fallen by 23%.

In this series, we’ll look at various factors that are affecting gold miners like Barrick Gold, Newmont Mining, Goldcorp, Yamana Gold, Agnico Eagle Mines, and Kinross Gold.

Newmont Mining outlined its capital allocation priorities. Management mentioned that they aim to fund their projects through cash generated from core operations.