Investors considering SGDM over the near-term don’t need to look far for an ally because they’ve got one in the Federal Reserve. The Fed’s bond buying is seen as a catalyst for bullion, which could turn into a spark for SGDM.
“In the process, the Fed’s Treasury bondholdings zoomed past those of foreign nations parked at the U.S. central bank, which have remained flat around $3 trillion. And overall foreign holdings of Treasuries fell by $591 billion in the latest 12 months,” reports Randall Forsyth for
. “The Fed’s massive securities purchases fueled a $4.2 trillion explosion in the broad M2 money supply in the year through February. That, in turn, helped send the U.S. Dollar Index tumbling 13% from its peak last March to the turn of the year. Since then, it’s recovered by about 3%.”
SPPP provides “a secure, convenient and exchange-traded investment alternative for investors who want to hold physical platinum and palladium. The Trust offers a number of compelling advantages over traditional exchange-traded platinum and palladium funds,” according to the issuer.
With the global economy shaking off the ill effects of the coronavirus pandemic, palladium could be a winning precious metal in the back half of 2021. Some commodities market observers are already forecasting more upside for the metal.
“Palladium did a return to point of breakout, close to the November and January highs at 2516.51/2511.03, before heading back up again,” according to Commerzbank. “Since the decline from the current March high at 2758.00 looks corrective and can be subdivided into three smaller waves a, b and c, we expect the current advance to rise above the 2758.00 high towards the 2020 peak and all-time high at 2878.04.”
March 17, 2021
Gold and bitcoin are often compared in the same breath. Yet there’s considerable debate about stores of value, whether either will be acceptable for everyday financial transactions, roles in portfolios, inflation-fighting merit, and so on.
In fact, many market observers refer to bitcoin as ‘digital gold’. Yet some analysts believe those comparisons should come to a halt. That’s not a slight on either asset, but it could provide relief for funds such as the
SGDM tracks the Solactive Gold Miners Custom Factors Index and “emphasizes gold companies with the highest revenue growth and free cash flow yield, and the lowest long-term debt to equity ratio,” according to the issuer.
March 17, 2021
Pay enough attention to the silver market this year and you’re sure to hear something about short covering and squeezes.
That chatter is starting up again, and it could be to the benefit of the
“Silver once again outperformed Gold today by gains, Silver is up just over 1%, while Gold gained only 0.24%. According to the CFTC data as of March 9, there is a 20,000 spread between the overall net positions on Silver Futures, with an edge going to short positions,” reports
PSLV is a closed-end fund that lets investors redeem large blocks of shares in exchange for delivery of silver bullion.
Gold Blues as Silver Woos
February was a tough month for gold, which marked its worst monthly performance since November 2016. Spot gold fell $114/oz, or 6.15%, to close the month at $1,734/oz. Half of this decline came in the two final days of February, as bond selling spiked into near panic mode and triggered a multi-asset sell-off into month-end. Figure 1 shows how gold has been inversely correlated to bond yields.
February’s pullback occurred on the back of various developments. Rising energy prices and the markets’ view on U.S. government spending bolstered the reflation trade with a rally in broader equity markets. The U.S. dollar strengthened as markets priced in a swift economic recovery and as U.S. Treasury yields advanced to the highest level in a year, with the 30-year bond rising above 2% and the rapid move in the 10-year to over 1.5%, which we will discuss in more detail. Meanwhile, gold ETFs saw holdings decline towards the end of February. Silver prices held up m