Gold ETF Investors Sell as Rally Takes a Breather

Gold's rally has fizzled for the time being, and investors are grabbing the opportunity to sell their exchange-traded funds that invest in the precious metal.  

Gold is down about half-of-a-percent this past month, after a year-long rally that had pushed the price up 18%. The $61 billion SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), which is up 13% this year, lost more than $193 in outflows on April 26 as the spot price of the commodity was starting to pull back from its April 15 high. The fund has lost $2.92 billion in investor money through April 26.

Source for chart: etf.com

Market watchers are tying the outflows to an increased likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates this year, which is dependent on more bullish economic data, including lower inflation.

In the meantime, investors and financial advisors are selling high when it comes to gold exposure across the ETF spectrum.

GLD Has Outlfows Amid Rising Gold Price 

The $561 million Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bull 2X Shares ETF (NUGT), which offers leveraged exposure to an index of global gold and silver mining companies, experienced $20 million worth of outflows on April 29 followed by another $6 million on April 29.

NUGT is up 19% so far this year, including a 75% gain since Feb. 28.

The outflows of the gold ETFs that have been outperforming the broad market equity indexes suggests traders are betting on improving economic data.

While NUGT is designed to be a trading vehicle, investors often hold GLD as a longer-term position to tamp down portfolio volatility.

But not all financial advisors see the value of owning gold for anything but tactical moves.

“For long-term investors, gold is a poor investment,” said Michael Rosen, chief investment officer at Angeles Investments in Santa Monica, Calif.

He prefers inflation-linked bonds that pay a premium over inflation, and equities that have compounded returns significantly above inflation.

“Gold can be thought of as a currency that pays no interest but generally holds its value against inflation over the very, very long term,” Rosen added. “So, gold is a currency, not an investment.”

Ultimately, it appears investors are pulling back from gold at a time when better economic news would push the commodity’s value lower, and the current mixed bag of economic data is reflected in the flatlining price over the past few weeks.

Meanwhile, for those financial advisors who are especially bearish on the yellow metal, there is always the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Index Bear 2X Shares (DUST), which is down more than 23% so far this year.