Yahoo Finance Gold and Silver Rally: What about Miners and ETFs?
Not All That Glitters Is Gold: All Precious Metals See Gains
Gold and silver rally
Gold prices haven been swaying between gains and losses after the Fed decided to go slow on interest rate hikes, which relieved investors. The Fed has stated that it is closely monitoring the economy to see if it would be fit for an increase in June.
Gold has already risen about 18.6% on a year-to-date basis due uncertainties in the economy. Haven bids have saved precious metal investors. Silver rose with gold, outshining it by rising 25.6% on a year-to-date basis. Gold and silver ended the day at $1,250.40 and $17.30 per ounce, respectively, on April 27, 2016.
Silver is a precious metal, but also has extensive industrial usage. It tends to show its industrial side more often than its precious metal counterparts. Platinum and palladium have also seen year-to-date increases, rising by 15.9% and 8.5%, respectively. These two metals closed at $1,025.40 and $609.70 per ounce on April 27, 2016.
Funds and miners follow metals
According to data compiled by Bloomberg, holdings in the ETFs backed by silver dropped by almost 0.2%, the most in the past two weeks, to 19,929.3 tons. Gold fund holdings changed little, weighing in at 1754.1 tons. The iShares Gold Trust ETF (IAU) and the iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV) have followed the gains in these metals, rising by 17.5% and 24.2%, respectively, on a year-to-date basis.
Mining shares that closely followed the upside in gold and silver include Yamana Gold (AUY), Pan American Silver (PAAS), and Buenaventura (BVN). These three companies rose by 49%, 35.9%, and 43.7%, respectively, on a 30-day trailing basis. Together, these companies make up 9% the fluctuations in the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX).
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