These ETFs tap into precious-metal gains

Article Excerpt

Most precious-metal stocks dropped, along with the market, in March 2020. They then quickly reversed that trend to soar for investors, in part because of gold’s appeal as a “safe harbour” in times of economic uncertainty. In fact, in August 2020, gold jumped to over $2,000 U.S. an ounce for the first time ever. Gold stocks also jumped. Gold prices then drifted down to about $1,800 as pandemic fears lessened. Shortly after, they spiked to over $1,991 in March 2022 as Russia invaded Ukraine. Gold dropped again, to as low as $1,622 in late 2022, before climbing to $2,051 in May 2023. Prices dipped to $1,817 in October 2023 before rising to a new record of $2,450 in May 2024. That reflected market expectations that the climb in interest rates is coming to an end. That lowers the appeal of the U.S. dollar and increases that of gold as a store of value. Gold is now at $2,358. Going forward, we think top-quality…