Earnings season is in full bloom with some marquee names, including multiple Dow components still due to deliver results in the coming weeks. However, one high-flying sector and the corresponding exchange traded funds will be put to the earnings test in significant fashion over the next two weeks.
Starting today, a significant percentage of the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index, the underlying benchmark for the popular Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF’s (NYSEArca: GDX), steps into the earnings confessional. Randgold Resources (NasdaqGS: GOLD), 5.1% of the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index, reports today. [Technical Update on the Big Gold Miners ETF]
That index is also the benchmark the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X Shares (NYSEArca: NUGT) and the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X Shares (NYSEArca: DUST) attempt to deliver three times the daily performance of, or in the case of DUST, three time the daily inverse performance.
On Friday, Goldcorp (NYSE: GG), nearly 10% of the NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index, is the big-name gold miner to deliver earnings. Goldcorp will be joined by Australia’s Newcrest Mining, almost 5% of the gold miners index, on Friday. Next week brings reports from Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX) and Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM), nearly a combined 14% of the index.
The gold miners’ earnings avalanche comes at a crucial time for the sector and the aforementioned ETFs. Prior to Friday when it sank 5.5% on heavy volume, there had ample enthusiasm for GDX and rival gold miners ETFs this year. Even with those Friday woes, fiver gold miners ETFs, including GDX and its small-cap counterpart, the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDXJ), rank among the top 10 non-leveraged ETFs year-to-date. [Bad Place for Gold Shorts]