These ETFs tap into precious-metal gains

Article Excerpt

Most precious-metal stocks dropped, along with stock markets, in March 2020. They then quickly reversed that trend to soar for investors, in part because of gold’s appeal as a “safe harbour” in uncertain times. In fact, in August 2020, gold jumped to over $2,000 U.S. an ounce for the first time ever. Gold stocks also jumped. Gold prices then drifted down to about $1,800 as pandemic fears lessened—before spiking to over $1,991 in March 2022 as Russia invaded Ukraine. Gold has since moved back down to today’s price of $1,769. Gold does move generally up along with inflation; however, while inflation remains high, interest rate hikes (such as the U.S. Fed’s four recent 75 basis-point rises) are aimed at controlling and bring down the inflation rate. That has pushed down inflationary assets like gold and pushed up the U.S. dollar. But going forward, we think top-quality gold and silver stocks are still buys—in part because the prospects for increased production and cash flow—regardless…