As the dollar remains weak and inflationary worries storm into investors heads, gold and its exchange traded funds (ETFs) remain a hot ticket. That doesn’t mean you should discount other precious metals, though.
It’s not just a weak dollar and inflationary concerns that are driving up the price of gold. Eric Hommelberg of Gold Seek states that gold had another trigger: as the Gulf states, China, Russia, Japan and France began to talk about ending dollar dealings for oil, “all heck broke loose.” Any new basket of currencies, Hommelberg says, will likely include gold. This sparked a buying spree. (Is the rally overheated?)
Hommelberg also states that a weak economy facing an uphill recovery battle is making gold attractive.
As impressive as gold’s price run has been, consider silver, which has been outperforming gold this year. Silver – the “poor man’s gold” – is also a good way to hedge against inflation, and it benefits from its appeal as both an industrial and precious metal. This means that it can be treated as a safe haven investment, as well as an investment for investors looking to benefit from an uptick in industrial demand. A note of caution: since silver’s market is smaller than gold’s, it can be more volatile. (More on gold, platinum and silver).
For more stories on precious metals, visit our precious metals category. For a list of all the precious metal ETF options, go here.
A good and easy way to play gold is through the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEArca: GLD) which is up 19.9% year-to-date.
As for silver, an easy way to access the market is through the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV) which is up 55% year-to-date.
For full disclosure, Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of GLD.
Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.