Gold hits record high–Don’t chase gold; buy gold stocks

Gold hits record high–Don’t chase gold; buy gold stocks

Gold (for February 2024 delivery) was trading at $2087 an ounce on New York Comex today, December 1. That easily beats the old record high of $2051.50 an ounce back in August 2020. The shiny metal is up 12% from $1830 an ounce in early October. The SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD), which holds gold, is up 2.53% in the last month as of November 30. History, and the price action on the Gold Shares ETF, tells us that at this point in a strong gold rally, it doesn’t pay to chase gold itself, but it does pay to buy shares of gold miners.

The biggest good news from Barrick Gold’s earnings aren’t the earnings

The biggest good news from Barrick Gold’s earnings aren’t the earnings

Yesterday, Thursday, November 2, Barrick Gold (GOLD) reported earnings of 24 cents a share for the company’s this quarter. That was ahead of the 21 cents a share consensus estimate among Wall Street analysts. In the third quarter of quarter of 2022, the company reported earnings of 13 cents a share. The surprise was the fourth for Barrack in the last four quarters. But to me other news overshadowed the earnings themselves.

Special Report: 10 Contrarian Bargains to Buy Now–My third of 10 Picks is Barrick Gold

Special Report: 10 Contrarian Bargains to Buy Now–My third of 10 Picks is Barrick Gold

A few days ago I recommended selling positions in the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and in the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) on the grounds that with bon yields rising, gold wouldn’t move higher. (This was all, of course, before Hamas attacked Israel and sent markets running for safety. On Friday, October 13, Comex gold for December delivery was up 3.11%.) So what I am I doing today recommending Barrick Gold (GOLD) as the third pick in my Special Report “10 Contrarian Bargains to Buy Now”?

Special Report: 10 Contrarian Bargains to Buy Now–My first 3 picks are Luminar, Nidec, and Barrick

Special Report: 10 Contrarian Bargains to Buy Now–My first 3 picks are Luminar, Nidec, and Barrick

a lot of individual stocks are cheap right now, I’d argue. 180 of the 500 stocks in the S&P 500 trade now at the same or lower price that they commanded a year ago. And for many individual stocks the performance is even worse. For example, Luminar Technologies (LAZR), a maker of LIDAR safety and navigation equipment for cars, is down 40% in the last three months. Albemarle, the world’s leading supplier of lithium, is off 27% in the last three months. Nidec (NJDCY), a Japanese maker of small electric motors and electric vehicle drive trains, is down 13% in the last three months. I’d argue that these and the rest of the 10 Contrarian bargain stocks that I’m going to recommend in this Special Report share a number of characteristics that have led to their losses over the last few months or longer.

Special Report: Your 10 Best Moves for the Rest of 2023, Part 2–10 of 10 Moves (revised on 10/22)

Special Report: Your 10 Best Moves for the Rest of 2023, Part 2–10 of 10 Moves (revised on 10/22)

So what do you do with your portfolio for the rest of 2023? And what’s your best strategy to be prepared for 2024? In Part 1 of this Special Report I laid out the 10 developments that I thought would drive the financial markets for the rest of 223 and into 2024. Today, in Part 2, I’m going to give you the first 2 of 10 moves to take–with as much detail and as many specifics as possible–that you should be making now to position your portfolio for the uncertainties of the last quarter of 2023.

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick First Quantum Minerals

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick First Quantum Minerals

This week’s Quick Pick is First Quantum Minerals (FQVL). I’ve talked about copper as an equity kicker in gold mining stocks in a previous video. Barrick, a huge gold producer, is also a significant copper producer and is looking to expand its copper production. The company is currently in “informal talks” with First Quantum Minerals. Year to date, First Quantum Minerals is up 21% and 34% in the last three months, so it definitely shows good short-term momentum. In the long term, copper demand will see tremendous growth in the global climate change economy, including in electric vehicle production. The other benefit here is copper and, of course, gold is a good hedge against inflation which I predict will continue higher than the Federal Reserve and consumers would like for quite some time. Put copper, with its growth potential, together with gold, with its role as an inflation hedge, in one mining stock and you’re starting to look at something good.

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Trend of the Week Gold with a Copper Kicker

Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Trend of the Week Gold with a Copper Kicker

This week’s Trend of the Week is Gold with a Copper Kicker. Going long gold is a good way to go short on the market–gold will go up if the market goes down. Gold mining stocks also have an advantage–an upside kicker–since while mining for gold, the companies also produce a lot of copper. There is growing demand for copper in green energy products like electric vehicles. At the moment, gold stocks are trading on the price of gold alone but miners are adding to copper reserves knowing that it will be a big equity plus. I don’t think these copper kickers are priced into the stocks right now. Newmont (NEM) just purchased Newcrest, which has big copper reserves in Australia and Papua New Guinea, making Newmont not only a global gold leader but also a major producer of copper. Barrick Gold (GOLD) has also increased its copper production substantially. Gold is a great way to hedge the market in the short term, but these copper kickers have long-term upside potential as the cost of copper continues to rise.

Gold hits record high–Don’t chase gold; buy gold stocks

Special Report: My 5 Favorite Shorts for This Market–Short #3 Go Long Gold to short this market, of course, but gold miners or gold itself (2 more Short Picks to come)

Want to short this market and a world full of risk? The choice is gold, of course. And the only question is whether to use the precious metal itself or shares of a gold miner. Here’s the basic case for gold now. The trend is extremely positive for gold under almost all scenarios. Which is why I’m making gold my #3 Short Pick in my Special Report: My 5 Favorite Shorts for This Market

Powell talks the market out of its enthusiasm

Powell talks the market out of its enthusiasm

Immediately after the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates another 25 basis points today, stocks moved up on a reading of the Fed’s 2 p.m. statement released with the rate news that saw the Fed as saying it would begin to cut interest rates soon. At 2:26 p.m. New York time the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 0.58%. In Wednesday’s statement, the Fed said, “In determining the extent to which additional policy firming may be appropriate to return inflation to 2% over time, the committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments.” In March, the central bank had said it “anticipates that some additional policy firming may be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time.” But stocks peaked for the day shortly after Fed chair Jerome Powell began his press conference at 2:30 p.m.

Special Report: My 5 Favorite Shorts for This Market–Shorts #1,  #2 , #3 and #4 (so 1 more to come.)

Special Report: My 5 Favorite Shorts for This Market–Shorts #1, #2 , #3 and #4 (so 1 more to come.)

I’m expecting modestly positive economic news in the next few days. Which will, in my opinion, create a low-risk opportunity to make big gains by going short this market in order to profit as stock prices fall. I’m looking to put the first of those shorts in place right now. With the rest to go into place in the days after the Federal Reserve meets on Wednesday, May 3. In this Special Report, I’ll explain this perhaps initially counter-intuitive call on short-term market direction and give you the details on five of my favorite shorts for profiting in this market. With the first short pick today

Special Report: My 5 Favorite Shorts for This Market–Shorts #1,  #2 , #3 and #4 (so 1 more to come.)

Special Report: 10 Picks for the Coming Recession

10 Picks for the Coming Recession. This one is especially difficult. Not only do I face the usual crystal-ball problem that comes up whenever you try to pick an investment for the future–what’s the macro and micro world going to look like in 6 months or a year from now–but I’ve got two big Recession-specific challenges. First, is there actually going to be a Recession in 2023? All the signs, in my opinion, point toward a recession in the second and third quarters, but it’s by no means guaranteed that we’ll have the two quarters of negative GDP growth that’s required by the minimal definition of a recession. And what’s the point, you might well ask, of making picks for a coming recession that never arrives? And, second, how bad will this recession be?