Gold isn’t the only precious metal spiking in price these days as investors run for cover.
Precious metals were all over IndexUniverse.com’s top ETF performers list yesterday, a sign that gold isn’t the only safe-haven asset investors are flocking to as they worry about the health of the
Gold grabbed all the headlines on Tuesday as it climbed to a new high of $1,269.70 a troy ounce, but investors appear to be taking full advantage of the broad array of exchange-traded products that are now available as they find new ways to hunker down, wondering what happens next.
Indeed, while all the big gold ETFs—the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEArca: GLD), the iShares Gold Trust (NYSEArca: IAU) and the ETFS Physical Swiss Gold ETF (NYSEArca: SGOL)—were among the top-20 movers yesterday, the ETFS Physical Palladium ETF (NYSEArca: PALL) and the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV) were the No. 1 and No. 3 performers, with gains of 3.7 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
Today, that dynamic was even clearer, with PALL up another 0.7 percent, while GLD was taking a breather after yesterday’s 2.0 percent gain, shedding 0.1 percent.
“The common denominator here is that gold, and precious metals in general, shine when there is a loss of confidence in the dollar, in central banks or in the government,” Bill Koehler, chief investment officer of Leawood, Kan.-based ETF Portfolio Partners, told IndexUniverse.com in a telephone interview.
| Top 20 1-Day Performers (excluding Leverage/Inverse, >1,000 Shares Traded) | ||||
| Ticker | Name | 1-Day Performance | 1-Day Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| PALL | ETFS Physical Palladium | 3.66% | 137,869 | 409.03 |
| SGG | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Sugar Subindex Total Return ETN | 2.89% | 89,390 | 75.92 |
| SLV | iShares Silver | 2.61% | 12,760,134 | 6,099.10 |
| DBS | PowerShares DB Silver | 2.52% | 24,312 | 79.38 |
| SIVR | ETFS Physical Silver | 2.46% | 241,371 | 200.38 |
| PPLT | ETFS Physical Platinum | 2.43% | 119,234 | 468.77 |
| JJS | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Softs Subindex Total Return ETN | 2.37% | 2,300 | 13.96 |
| PTM | UBS E-TRACS CMCI Long Platinum Total Return ETN | 2.37% | 40,979 | 62.30 |
| PGM | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Platinum Metals Subindex Total Return ETN | 2.26% | 13,334 | 77.94 |
| JO | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee Subindex Total Return ETN | 2.12% | 13,320 | 24.54 |
| JJP | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Precious Metals Subindex Total Return ETN | 2.11% | 6,800 | 14.70 |
| DBP | PowerShares DB Precious Metals | 2.11% | 58,831 | 304.95 |
| DGL | PowerShares DB Gold | 1.99% | 54,987 | 243.30 |
| GLD | SPDR Gold | 1.98% | 26,588,844 | 52,830.97 |
| SGOL | ETFS Physical Swiss Gold | 1.97% | 206,116 | 863.43 |
| ULE | ProShares Ultra Euro | 1.96% | 9,760 | 13.48 |
| IAU | iShares COMEX Gold | 1.89% | 3,603,630 | 3,988.68 |
| NIB | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Cocoa Subindex Total Return ETN | 1.81% | 78,585 | 11.57 |
| COW | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Livestock Subindex Total Return ETN | 1.59% | 47,303 | 72.17 |
Secular Bull Market
Koehler said the Federal Reserve’s recent announcement that it was likely to launch into a second round of so-called quantitative easing involving the purchase of Treasurys to keep bond yields low enough to help stimulate economic activity is a big reason behind the recent run-up in metals that included gold hitting a record.
The Fed’s announcement means that the government will be “printing more money,” and that erodes faith in the dollar, Koehler said. Amid the fears that the
“We are in a secular bull market for gold,” Koehler said. “Gold prices have been going up for some 11 years now, and we are still seeing double-digit returns.”
GLD was third on IndexUniverse.com’s creations list on Tuesday, bringing in another $247.3 million and lifting its assets to $52.83 billion.
“You go back 30 years, and you see that gold is not overvalued relative to stocks right now,” Koehler said. “Gold prices have a ways to go. Long-term charts … show that gold could easily go to $2,000 an ounce.”
