"This is a system shock," says Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group. "You have a material energy supply disruption and a structural shift toward fragmentation."
The Sprott Junior Copper Miners ETF is the sharpest instrument for investors seeking direct exposure to copper prices, tracking the Nasdaq Sprott Junior Copper Miners Index. This fund focuses solely on copper equities, avoiding dilution from other metals.
Instead of trying to predict whiplashing oil prices, consider investing in energy ETFs like the Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF and First Trust North American Energy Infrastructure. These ETFs provide exposure to sectors such as pipelines and shipping, independent of oil price fluctuations.
Gold pays no interest or dividends, making its appeal highly sensitive to what investors can earn elsewhere. When real yields fall, gold becomes comparatively more attractive. The 10-year Treasury yield has dropped from 4.29% in early February to 4.06% as of early March, coinciding directly with gold pushing to new highs.
Part of the reason may lie in the fact that geopolitical risks had already been significantly priced in earlier. Prior to the correction, gold had risen for four consecutive weeks, pushing prices close to $5,420/oz and creating conditions for investment funds as well as retail traders to take profits, thereby triggering a sharp short-term pullback.
Gold miners have relatively fixed costs to get the metal out of the ground. The all-in sustaining cost typically runs around $1,200 to $1,400 per ounce for most major producers. When gold trades at $2,000, a miner earns between $600 and $800 per ounce in margin. When gold climbs to $3,000, that margin roughly doubles, even though the gold price itself only rose 50%.
On one hand, the precious metal continues to benefit from its traditional role as a safe-haven asset amid a tense geopolitical backdrop. On the other hand, rising inflation concerns, fuelled by higher oil prices, are affecting the outlook for monetary policy and limiting further upside.
Gold has been on a tear as the dollar is under pressure, raising questions about global confidence and market risk. The US economy and markets are unmatched in size. The dollar is the king of currencies, and US treasuries are often considered a safe-haven asset. But, investors appear to be reassessing that. This has weighed down on the greenback and cooled the stock markets.
