Investors perusing a list of exchange traded funds that have been stellar performers over the past month will find plenty of emerging markets funds and some suddenly resurgent energy fare.
Scroll far enough down that list and some well-known gold miners ETFs begin appearing as well. Although the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) is higher by just 1.4% over the past month, gold miners ETFs are soaring. Over the same period, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDX) and the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDXJ) are up 10.1% and 8.7%, respectively.
Since we highlighted gold miners ETFs as contrarian ideas on April 2, GDX, the largest gold miners ETF, is up nearly 6% while GDXJ is higher by 6.1%. [Gold Miners ETFs for the Contrarian Investor]
Bullion and mining stocks slightly rebounded mid-March in response to lower-than-expected employment numbers, which raised the possibility that the Federal Reserve could hold off on tightening monetary policy. Still, the rally in miners ETFs has caught investors off guard. Either that or some investors just are not believers in that rally. Since the start of this month, GDX and GDXJ have lost over $440 million in assets combined even while GLD has hauled in nearly $205 million in new assets.
Though the signs are nascent for the moment, there is some incremental evidence that investors are warming to gold miners ETFs and are doing so with riskier fare. For example, the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X Shares (NYSEArca: NUGT), the triple-leveraged answer to GDX, was Direxion’s second-best asset-gathering bullish ETF last Friday, according to issuer data.
In yet another reminder that some traders consistently get it wrong with leveraged miners ETFs, Direxion data indicate NUGT and the Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bull 3x Shares (NYSEArca: JNUG) have lost assets over the past month while the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X Shares (NYSEArca: DUST) and the Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Index Bear 3X Shares (NYSEArca: JDST) have seen inflows. [Getting it Wrong on Leveraged Gold Miners ETFs…Again]