Precious metals miners-related exchange traded funds surged Friday, along with gold and silver prices, after the weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data added to speculation that the Federal Reserve would hold off on tightening its monetary policy.
On Friday, the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDX), the largest and most heavily traded gold miners ETF, increased 5.8% and Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: GDXJ) returned 4.4%. Additionally, the Sprott Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: SGDM), the first factor-based gold miners ETF, advanced 5.9% and the Sprott Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSEArca: SGDJ) gained 4.2%. The gold miner ETFs are now testing their short-term, 50-day simple moving averages.
Meanwhile, the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD), iShares Gold Trust (NYSEArca: IAU) and ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (NYSEArca: SGOL) rose 2.0% on Friday.
Comex gold futures were up 2.0% Friday, trading around $1,135.4 per ounce.
Gold bullion jumped Friday as speculators fueled bets that the weak U.S. jobs data would diminish the likelihood of a Fed rate hike, a bullish signal for safe-haven assets like precious metals, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The Commerce Department revealed that U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased 142,000 in September, below average expectations of a 200,000 gain. Additionally, August jobs numbers were downwardly revised to 136,000, or 21% lower than initial estimates.
“That was a pretty big miss,” Bob Haberkorn, a senior commodities broker, told the WSJ. “It’s pretty bullish for gold for the remainder of the year. With data like that, I don’t see how the Fed is going to be in a position to raise rates.”
Moreover, the weaker economic consensus also weighed on the U.S. dollar, which further strengthened precious metals.
Additionally, silver miners also jumped Friday, with the Global X Silvers Miners ETF (NYSEArca: SIL) up 5.5%, PureFunds ISE Junior Silver Small Cap Miners/Explorers ETF (NYSEArca: SILJ) 7.9% higher and iShares MSCI Global Silver Miners ETF (NYSEArca: SLVP) up 4.8%.
Meanwhile, the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV) added 4.5% and the ETFS Physical Silver Shares (NYSEArca: SIVR) rose 4.9% on Friday.
Comex silver futures increased 4.9%, trading around $15.2 per ounce.
Silver was outperforming on an unprecedented supply squeeze in global silver coins as mom-and-pop investors raced to buy the precious metal at six-year lows, Reuters reported.
“Silver [coin]demand is absolutely through the roof,” Neil Vance, wholesale manager at the Perth Mint, told Reuters. “There seems to be a bit of frenzy as people think there is a shortage of silver. But in fact it is a (crunch in) manufacturing capacity.”
Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF
For more information on the miners sector, visit our metals & mining category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.