Exchange traded funds backed by physical holdings of gold are in the midst of an impressive resurgence. Since the start of June, the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD), ETFS Physical Gold Shares (NYSEArca: SGOL) and the iShares Gold Trust (NYSEArca: IAU) are each up more than 6%.
Now GLD, the world’s largest gold ETF, and friends are showing technical strength, prompting some chartists to say that higher is the path of least resistance for the yellow metal.
“A couple weeks ago we saw a pretty big breakout on the GLD. It was on the heaviest volume we’ve seen in about a year. Most of those gains have held so that tells you there are active buyers. As long as we consolidate around this range I think gold is headed higher,” MKM Partners Chief Technician Jonathan Krinsky said in an interview with Jeff Macke of Yahoo Finance.
Technical analysts are not alone in their bullish bullion views. Some of the biggest names on Wall Street have either stood by or are warming to gold. John Paulson’s hedge fund, Paulson & Co., was the largest holder of GLD with 10.23 million shares as of the end of the first quarter. [Paulson Still Loves GLD]
DoubleLine’s Jeff Gundlach also sounded a bullish tone on gold when recently discussing debasement of the U.S. dollar.
Krinsky “says the breakout happened near $1,250 an ounce. As long as that level, which works out to about $120 on the GLD holds he’s looking for a move to $1,400 for starters,” reports Macke.
Investors are returning to gold ETFs and recent inflows have turned GLD positive on the year in terms of asset-gathering. As recently as July 2, GLD was showing year-to-date outflows of almost $223 million, but after pulling in over $407 million over the past week, the ETF has 2014 inflows of $185.2 million. [Gold Grab Returns, Helps ETFs]
Long positions held by professional traders “in gold rose 20 percent to 136,929 futures and options contracts in the week to July 1, Bloomberg reported, citing U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.
SPDR Gold Shares
ETF Trends editorial team contributed to this post. Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of GLD.