Gold Still Waiting for a Crisis Catalyst
Gold has remained subdued in recent weeks in spite of an obvious increase of global and domestic worries on the public health, economic and geopolitical fronts.
The question as to why gold hasn’t responded more favorably to these concerns is being asked by investors right now, but the answer provided here is that a genuine crisis “inflection” hasn’t yet arrived.
That could soon change, however, given that Congress is on the cusp of passing a series of spending bills that could prove to be the tipping point into runaway inflation.
Iron ore and steel, meanwhile, are experiencing choppy waters along with copper, yet all three have intermediate-term upside potential based on bullish fundamental factors. The short-term outlook, however, remains weak.
Finally, lithium is taking a much-deserved break after a huge run-up in the last several months. Profit-taking was evident in the lithium miners last week, but as with the other major industrial metals, the fundamentals should prove strong enough to prevent an outright bear market from appearing.
Feature Story: Gold: The Ultimate Crisis Barometer
Among major financial assets, nothing holds its value (or increases) quite like gold in times of major crises. That’s the emphatic conclusion of a study of the last seven major U.S. crisis periods over the last 20 years.
With a number of potential cataclysms brewing on the immediate horizon, including the dramatic rise in Delta variant cases and problems relating to Afghanistan, investors are wondering why gold hasn’t yet responded with a sustained rally. I’ll attempt to answer this question, but before I do, let’s take a look at gold’s performance in previous periods of turmoil.
Here are the last seven major crisis periods in chronological order and how gold responded to each of them, starting with 9/11:
- Gold increased 9% in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.
- It rallied 31% in the final months of 2007 when the credit storm was brewing and the U.S. economy entered a recession.
- Gold soared 43% from November 2008 to February 2009 during the final stages of the credit crisis (while the S&P fell 22%).
- Gold rose 5% during the infamous S&P 500 “flash crash” of May 2010 (while the S&P lost 11%).
- The yellow metal managed a maximum gain of 77% during the heart of the 2010-2012 eurozone crisis.
- Gold gained 30% during the 2018-2019 U.S.-China trade war crisis.
- Finally, bullion prices increased 40% during the first five months (arguably the worst part) of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic crisis.
During each of the preceding seven crises, the average gain for gold was 34%. A brief survey of each of them reveals that the more severe and prolonged the crisis was, the more dramatic was gold’s percentage gain.
Another takeaway from this overview is that whenever investors became seriously worried about the economic or geopolitical outlook, gold took off fairly quickly. This begs the question as to why gold hasn’t yet launched a significant uptrend in the face of the brewing virus-related and geopolitical problems mentioned earlier.
My answer is that neither of these developing crises have reached an inflection point. While investors may be concerned, the overall level of fear isn’t intensive enough to warrant a full-scale rush into gold.
Moreover, a factor that accompanied each of the above seven crisis periods, to some degree, was a sharp (if temporary) drop in U.S. equity prices. The stock market remains buoyant as of this writing as investors clearly aren’t yet worried enough about the economic outlook to liquidate risk assets and turn to the safe havens.
Although there has been some evident accumulation of gold in recent months, the safety-related buying has been both gradual and subdued to date as investors are apparently not yet convinced the global outlook is sufficiently bad enough to justify higher levels of bullion exposure.
What, then, could serve as a tipping point for the next major upside run in gold prices? There are a couple of obvious catalysts that could easily turn the tide decisively in gold’s favor. The first is the Delta variant which, as we’ve previously discussed, continues to command its fair share of news headlines.
But while U.S. coronavirus cases have reached their highest level since February, they’re still less than half the peak rate of 300,000 cases on January 8. You may recall the sharp four-week, 11% rise in gold in the month leading up to the January coronavirus case peak. This underscores how gold typically performs when investors are profoundly worried about the economic effects of a crisis.
Another point worth mentioning is that the all-important coronavirus death rate is (mercifully) far below its January 27 peak of 4,100 (see graph below). As of this writing, the death rate—while rising—is only 774. That’s still 81% below the high-water mark seven months ago and clearly not enough to move the needle for higher exposure to the yellow metal.
The bottom line is that a sustained and/or significant rise in the U.S. coronavirus death count would almost certainly serve as a catalyst to increased gold safe-haven demand. For now, though, the subdued death rate is evidently deterring investors from increasing their bullion exposure.
Yet another potential catalyst for a worthwhile gold rally would be serious concerns over rising inflation among market participants. We saw preliminary signs that investors were worried about the U.S. inflation rate in July with the release of some key economic headlines, which revealed a startling rise in select wholesale prices. But a massive and sustained increase in the inflation rate—the kind that truly serves as an incentive for investors to be heavily long gold—hasn’t yet materialized.
However, with the Federal Reserve promising to be ultra-accommodative for the foreseeable future, and with the $3.5 trillion “anti-poverty” bill on top of the proposed $1 trillion infrastructure spending bill possibly becoming a reality soon, the prospects for a 1970s-style runaway inflation have never been higher. And this would easily serve as a galvanizing factor for bullion buyers.
In my view, gold is still the ultimate “crisis barometer.” But the fact that it hasn’t yet launched an extended rally indicates the market isn’t yet sufficiently convinced that a real crisis is at hand. Given the major potential problems we’ve discussed here, however, that could easily soon change in favor of the gold bulls.
What to Do Now
We recently sold our small position in the GraniteShares Gold Trust (BAR) after it violated our stop-loss at the 17.66 level. No new trading positions in BAR are recommended at this time as we await a more favorable entry point. BAR remains under both the 25-day and 50-day trend lines and hasn’t confirmed the August 10 bottom yet. However, based on the rapid recovery in gold prices, we may have a renewed entry point within the next few days. Stay tuned.
New Recommendations/ Updates
Dollar Strength Driving Silver Weakness
More so than gold, silver is driven by sustained weakness in the U.S. dollar. Consequently, the dollar’s latest strength has been less than kind to the white metal’s price outlook.
Since silver is less of a safe-haven metal than gold, it tends to be more sensitive to greenback strength. Moreover, it’s more speculative than gold and typically rises whenever market-moving hedge fund traders and institutional players expect a lively gold market. In other words, silver is more of a leveraged play since its lower price vis-à-vis gold allows participants to load up on the white metal when they anticipate gold prices will move significantly higher.
With the dollar being as strong as it has been of late, and with gold prices stuck in neutral, silver doesn’t yet have a compelling demand driver. The following graph of the Invesco DB U.S. Dollar Bullish Index Fund (UUP)—my favorite dollar index tracker—is worth a thousand words.
The higher peaks in the dollar ETF have weighed against silver’s dollar-denominated price and have resulted in the metal falling toward a key intermediate-term support level. The support level in question is the 22 level, shown in the silver chart below.
Whenever silver has reached this key level in the recent past, buyers have always entered the market to save the day and (eventually) push silver higher. This was the case last September and again in late November.
A failure of the silver price to find support above this psychologically significant level in the coming weeks would represent a decline of greater than 25% from silver’s February peak. It’s an axiom of commodities trading that whenever a hard asset surrenders more than a quarter of its bull market, money managers often liquidate longer-term positions in order to prevent even further losses (per the observation of Amos Hostetter, the late, great commodities trader and Commodities Corp. founder).
This isn’t to say that a drop below the 22 level would doom silver’s longer-term bullish case, but it could easily invite additional selling—especially given the tendency for sell orders to pile up around benchmark round-number levels.
If silver manages to stop declining and establish support at or above 22 in the next few weeks, however, I’d view it as an opportunity to establish another long position in the metal. Accordingly, the next couple of weeks will likely be important for determining silver’s next intermediate-term trend.
Aside from the strong dollar, persistently high bullish sentiment among retail traders has also kept the metal from rallying (from a contrarian’s perspective). Simply put, there hasn’t been sufficient short interest in recent weeks to serve as a catalyst for a major rally. However, a quick-and-dirty drop toward 22 would likely shake out the stubborn longs and put downward pressure on sentiment, potentially setting up a major technical rally.
Finally, from a fundamental perspective, seasonal weakness among industrial players like electronic manufacturers and jewelers has contributed to the demand drop this summer. However, according to commodities consulting firm CPM Group, both of these sectors are expected to consume around half a billion ounces of silver—about half the projected supply for 2021.
This suggests that once we enter silver’s seasonally stronger period in the fourth quarter, we may finally see some meaningful strength in the metal. For now, though, I recommend a continued defensive stance as we wait for a low-risk/high-reward entry point.
What to Do Now
We’re currently in a cash position in our silver and silver stock portfolio as we wait for the white metal market to completely bottom out. The iShares Silver Trust (SLV), my favorite silver tracking fund, is trying to bottom and we could soon have another entry point in this ETF. An alert will be issued in the event SLV confirms a bottom in the coming days.
Platinum Group Metals Besieged by Supply Concerns
2020 was a banner year for platinum group metals (PGMs), with platinum up 116% from last March’s lows to this year’s February peak, while palladium gained a similar amount.
In recent months, however, both metals have been subject to consistent selling pressure, with both metals shedding 24% from their early 2021 peaks. The key to understanding the intermediate-term weakness is the mining situation in South Africa, which accounts for some 78% of global platinum supply and 37% of global palladium production.
During last year’s Covid-related shutdowns, power outages across South Africa and Covid-related mining shutdowns resulted in platinum and palladium production decreases of 25% and 13%, respectively.
The resulting strain on global supplies gave traders a big impetus to push the prices of both white metals significantly higher once the economy began opening back up, particularly with auto-related demand (which accounts for much of platinum’s usage) soaring last year.
Covid-related problems led to a revival of the platinum group metals last year, and many observers believe there could be a replay of last year’s Covid supply crunch in the coming months.
Bloomberg is reporting that as many as four of five South Africans may have contracted the coronavirus, suggesting the nation may be one of the world’s hardest-hit by Covid, according the chief actuary of Discovery Health, Africa’s biggest health insurer. Bloomberg also reports that South African health officials expect a fourth wave of the virus starting in early December.
But despite being hammered by 500 days of lockdown—and in spite of recent riots and looting in the wake of the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma—there haven’t been any major disruptions of white metal supplies from South Africa’s major mines.
According to the World Platinum Investment Council, following the effects of operational shutdowns and Covid-related restrictions last year, “greater output from South Africa, an increase from Russia and growth in recycling saw total supply growing 11% (+187 koz) to 1,950 koz in this year’s first quarter.”
And while it’s still a long way from pre-pandemic supply levels of 8,219 koz in 2019, total supply for 2021 is forecast to rise 16% to 7,883, while demand is forecast to rise only 5% to 8,041 koz. The resulting figure is a small deficit of -158 koz, which is hardly a justification for a roaring platinum bull market like the one we saw last year.
Meanwhile, South African miner Anglo American Platinum recently reported a seven-fold increase in half-year earnings and a record dividend, thanks to higher profits and increased output. The company saw a sizable 128% jump in refined platinum production during the first half of 2021, to 2.3 million ounces, boosted by the completion of the rebuild of unit A at its Anglo Converter Plant (ACP) processing facility last year.
Another major SA platinum group miner, Sibanye-Stillwater (SBSW), just reported “higher production from both the SA PGM and SA gold operations following the COVID-19 hard lockdown that impacted the operations in H1 2020 and successful measures which were implemented to reduce the impact of the ongoing pandemic on continued production.”
The continuing theme here is higher production of platinum group metals out of top producer South Africa. There is also the recent weakness in the South African rand currency, which tends to weigh against platinum and palladium prices, to consider. Below is a graph which illustrates the rand’s weakness against the U.S. dollar. The rand’s slump will likely weigh against both metals in the intermediate term, particularly palladium.
From a short-term technical perspective, palladium remains the weaker of the two metals and continues to seek new lows, while platinum appears to be bottoming. We don’t yet have a confirmed platinum bottom, however, and ideally, we should see the rand strengthen before the next platinum buy signal is confirmed. For now, I recommend that we hold off on initiating new positions in the PGMs until the near-term technical and fundamental weight of evidence improves.
What to Do Now
We’ve been in a cash position in our platinum and palladium portfolio as we wait for the PGMs to completely bottom out. The GraniteShares Platinum Shares (PLTM), my favorite platinum tracking fund, is trying to bottom and we could soon have another entry point in this ETF. An alert will be issued in the event PLTM confirms a bottom in the coming days.
Supply Restrictions Should Eventually Boost Copper
One of the most important indicators to watch when evaluating the macro picture is the price of copper. Indeed, the red metal is a broad, useful commodity to look at to gauge the overall level of manufacturing activity in the global economy—particularly in China. Here we’ll discuss the recent weakness in copper and what it likely portends for the global economic outlook, as well as what it means for investors.
Copper recently fell below the $9,000 a metric ton level, with prices down around 15% from the May peak. One reason for the metal’s underperformance is China, the world’s largest copper consumer. Concerns over China’s growth outlook have been sparked by the news that its economy slowed more than expected in July—fueled by flooding in central China and slowing automobile sales due to the global chip shortage—as the spread of the Delta variant further exacerbates global supply chain disruptions.
The mounting concerns over China’s economic outlook are somewhat reflected by equity prices on the mainland. The Shanghai Composite Index is down over 6% from its February peak, while the iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI)—one of my favorite China stock trackers—is down by almost 30% in the last six months.
Shown here is a comparison of FXI with the copper price (blue line at bottom of graph). As you can see, both the metal and China stocks tend to track each other very closely. There’s no established leadership relationship between the two, though, for sometimes FXI leads copper while at other times copper leads. The important thing to note here is that when both assets are in decline, it suggests that the immediate manufacturing outlook is weak, which doesn’t bode well for copper’s short-term price trend.
What’s more, the slump in copper’s price couldn’t come at a worse time as workers at Chile’s Escondida, the world’s largest copper mine, recently approved a strike after rejecting the final contract offer proposed by mine owner BHP Group (BHP). Other mines that could be affected by the strike include BHP’s Cerro Colorado mine and Codelco’s El Teniente, El Salvador and Hales mines. Collectively, the mines account for over 30% of Chile’s copper production and more than 10% of global copper output.
The strike proposal has created even more uncertainty for the copper mining industry, whose product is in high demand right now on the back of rising infrastructure spending, automotive and electrical/electronic component usage. Metals investors are also concerned by the labor uncertainty, as observers have pointed out.
Bloomberg, for instance, noted that “worries over global growth amid the pandemic resurgence and reduced stimulus may signal an end to—or at least a pause in—record earnings for copper producers.” Copper workers, however, are more concerned about getting pay raises in the wake of the 140% rally in copper prices from last March until May of this year, feeling neglected after their hard work in keeping operations going during last year’s pandemic.
For some historical perspective, it’s worth noting that Escondida workers staged a 44-day strike in 2017, the longest in the history of Chilean mining. The strike caused $740 million in losses for the company, and while the onset of the strike resulted in a brief rally for copper prices, the rally ultimately failed as prices resumed a downward trend for three months (down 10%) before finally bottoming out and launching a seven-month march higher for a 32% gain.
If history repeats, an extended strike could result in lower copper prices in the short term. However, an extended strike would almost certainly have a salutary effect on intermediate-to-longer-term copper supplies (which are already tight), thus likely paving the way for late-year seasonal strength traditionally seen in the metal.
Additionally, with uncertainty surrounding the upcoming Chile elections and the recent confirmation of Peru’s socialist president Castillo, Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) and other big producers are putting new copper projects on hold as both countries discuss potential tax increases (including mining tax hikes), while Chile drafts a new constitution. This should also be supportive for red metal prices in the intermediate-term (6-12 months).
Now what does all of this mean for equity investors? If you’re a metals or metals stock investor, it means there might be see some additional near-term weakness in the leading copper stocks, including FCX, while the latest developments influencing the copper market mentioned above play out. I think now would be a good time to keep some of your powder dry for when we get a confirmed bottom in the copper price, which should allow us to pick up the shares of some leading producers like FCX, Southern Copper (SCCO) and Teck Resources (TECK) at what are shaping up to be attractive prices.
Sustained weakness in both China’s stock market and the copper price have proven to be fairly reliable leading indicators of future (temporary) weakness in U.S. equities and, in some cases, the U.S. economy. (Most recently, witness the “heads-up” decline in both copper and FXI several weeks prior to last year’s pandemic-driven crash in the U.S.)
Eventually, copper prices will bottom out and will present another excellent buying opportunity for metals traders. And we’re probably not far from a bottom, based on how technically and psychologically “oversold” copper is becoming.
But until the final low is in, equity investors should probably exercise caution by holding off on aggressive stock purchases in China-sensitive sectors while also keep some powder dry due to increased broad market volatility risk.
What to Do Now
We were stopped out of our speculative long position in the United States Copper Index Fund (CPER), my preferred copper-tracking vehicle, on August 17 when the 26 level was violated on an intraday basis. We’ll wait for a more propitious entry point before initiating any further trades in this fund. SOLD
Steel Weakness Led by Iron Ore Plunge
Iron ore prices are on track to suffer their largest monthly loss on record in the wake of China’s decision to limit its steel output in an attempt to cut its carbon emissions.
The front-month futures contract for 62% iron ore on the CME has fallen over 30% so far this month, its largest loss since the contract’s inception in 2010, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Reporting on the losses, Barron’s observed:
“The [iron ore] price plunge was mainly caused by the stricter Chinese steel production cuts in the second half of the year, and steel demand weakened on the back of hot weather and rainfall in China, as well as the rise in Covid-19 cases…”
China’s output reductions aren’t the only reason for recent iron ore weakness, however. China also revised export taxes earlier this summer. In the words of a BofA Securities client note, this resulted in an incentive reduction “to produce for international markets,” especially after the cancellation of export tax rebates on certain steel products and raising export tariffs on crude iron.
Analysts at BofA opined that the downward trend in iron ore prices might be arrested in the event of “renewed stimulus in China” or “further mill closures to contain emissions” ahead of the 2022 winter Olympics in Beijing.
Yet another major factor creating a headwind for iron ore in the near term is the spread of the Delta variant. If there’s one thing markets hate, it’s uncertainty. And the rising possibility of more lockdowns in key industrial nations, which would likely hinder both mining and manufacturing activity, is definitely causing a high level of uncertainty.
Consequently, the potential for extended virus-related restrictions is a hindering the outlook for iron ore consumption and steel production for now as participants have been selling in anticipation of softening demand.
A final major reason behind iron ore weakness is China’s push to become more “sustainable” in its industrial practices. China’s government is reportedly encouraging steel mills to move away from heavy reliance on iron ore in steel production operations and move instead toward using ferrous scrap. According to MarketWatch, China will also soon introduce ferrous scrap futures on its Dalian Commodities Exchange to further this effort.
Despite the above-mentioned factors threatening the iron ore market’s longer-term outlook, the problem in the short-term isn’t one of diminished demand, but of consumption. According to Rhys Pittam of U.K.-based liquidity hub Marex, “The market is not short iron ore, but short in terms of consumption as steel mills have their hands tied in a market where global steel demand is healthy and yet mills find themselves unable to produce.”
It’s also worth mentioning that, short-term restrictions aside, demand for steel remains healthy. Booming demand in the automotive sector, coupled with expectations for increased U.S. infrastructure spending in the coming year, are expected to boost domestic demand and keep steel prices buoyant in the coming months. Leading steelmaker ArcelorMittal, for example, has upgraded its global steel consumption forecast for 2021 to between 7.5% and 8.5% above 2020 demand levels and well above consensus estimates.
Another factor weighing in favor of a bullish intermediate-to-longer-term steel outlook is China’s recent pledge to limit crude steel output this year to no higher than the 1.07 billion tons it produced in 2020. China’s Shagang Group, the world’s fourth-largest steel mill, reported that it’s also cutting production and foreign sales in compliance with the government’s stricter emissions standards.
Despite the still-bullish longer-term outlook for steel, I’m still urging caution on the near-term outlook for steel. As the chart of my favorite steel market-tracking ETF shows, the VanEck Vectors Steel ETF (SLX), price is currently below its 50-day moving average after recently breaking under a key support. It’s also currently below the midpoint of a 4-month trading range, which isn’t constructive from a technical perspective. (If SLX quickly firms up and establishes support around the 60 level in the next few days, however, it could change the near-term picture). But until the recent technical damage is repaired, no new long positions in this fund are recommended at this time.
What to Do Now
After the recent strength in steel prices, I placed steel and steel products manufacturer Nucor Corp. (NUE) on a buy earlier this month. Traders accordingly purchased conservative position in NUE using the 96 level as the initial stop-loss on an intraday basis. NUE closed decisively above its 50-day moving average in late July after recently reporting a 103% year-over-year revenue increase, to nearly $9 billion, for Q2 while net earnings hit a quarterly record of $1.5 billion (versus $109 million in the year-ago quarter). Shares of the steel and steel products manufacturer were up nearly 20% as of August 13, and our position now shows a gain of 21% in just over a week. Accordingly, I suggested last week taking partial profits and raising the stop-loss on the remainder of the trading position to slightly under 104 (our initial entry point) on an intraday basis. I now suggest raising the stop to slightly under 110 after Nucor’s additional strength since then. On the company front, the top brass said it expects increased profitability across the steel mills segment going forward, and analysts anticipate 97% sales growth for Q3. HOLD
I recommended using pullbacks in the SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) to initiate a conservative long position last week, using a level slightly under the 42.60 level (intraday) as the initial stop-loss on this position. Unfortunately, this stop-loss was triggered almost as soon as the buy signal was initiated as a selling wave in the broad industrial metals market—led by aluminum weakness—resulted in the decline. We’ll likely need to see a significant pullback in the U.S. dollar index before the industrial metals are ready to run again. SOLD
Lithium Still Buoyant Despite Mining Stock Correction
Lithium carbonate has plateaued in recent weeks at 92,500 yuan per ton, its highest level since August 2018, thanks to rising global demand for EVs amidst tight supplies.
Yet the stocks of leading lithium miners were hit with selling pressure last week in an evident profit-taking move after the huge gains of the last few months. There has been little change to the bullish intermediate-term supply/demand outlook for the battery metal, however, with supply currently in a deficit (thanks in part to a lack of investment in new mines).
According to Trading Economics: “Most economic recovery plans put forward by global leaders bet heavily on the EV industry to transform the transportation sector,” which is a clear catalyst for higher lithium demand.
European governments, meanwhile, are providing subsidies to EV buyers and sales of such cars reportedly account for a third of new passenger cars on the continent. The U.S., meanwhile, is ambitiously pushing for half of all cars on the road to be electric by 2030.
Then there’s China, which has a $60 billion investment in its burgeoning EV industry. Indeed, China’s EV plan is even more ambitious than the U.S., with its government calling for all cars to be either electric or hybrid by 2035. All told, the fundamentals pertaining to the electric vehicle industry are supportive of the lithium bull market’s continuation.
What to Do Now
In June, I recommended that we buy into the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF (LIT) on weakness. This ETF is what I view as a nice fit with our somewhat related positions in the cobalt (via Wheaton Precious Metals) and neodymium-Praseodymium (via MP Materials) spaces.
Investors who haven’t already done so should book some profit in our conservative trading position in LIT after its recent rally to over 20% from our initial entry point (per the rules of our technical trading discipline). I also suggest raising the stop-loss on the remainder of our position in LIT to slightly under 77.14 (near the 50-day moving average). HOLD
I previously recommended that lithium investors with a speculative bent take a closer look at Sigma Lithium Resources (SGMLF on the OTC, or SGMA on the Canadian TSX exchange). The company’s stated goal is to “enable EV industry growth by becoming one of the world’s largest, lowest cost producers of high-purity, environmentally sustainable lithium products” and it is developing a world-class lithium hard rock deposit with exceptional mineralogy at its Grota do Cirilo property in Brazil. Speculators interested in initiating a conservative position in SGMA were instructed to use weakness to nibble down to around the 6.14 level (stop) in the TSX symbol and down to around 5.00 (stop) in the OTC symbol. After the 50% rally in SGMLF since our initial purchase, I suggested taking some profit and raising the stop-loss to slightly under 6.50 on an intraday basis for the remainder of the trading position. We were stopped out last week when SGMLF violated this stop-loss. For the TSX symbol, we were stopped out on August 19 when our stop-loss at slightly under 8.00 was violated on an intraday basis. SOLD
Current Portfolio
| Stock | Price Bought | Date Bought | Price on 8/23/21 | Profit | Rating |
| Global X Lithium & Battery ETF (LIT) | 69 | 6/10/21 | 84 | 22% | Hold |
| Nucor Corp. (NUE) | 104 | 8/3/21 | 120 | 15% | Hold |
| Sigma Lithium Resources (SGMLF) | - | - | - | - | Sold |
| S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) | - | - | - | - | Sold |
| United States Copper Fund (CPER) | - | - | - | - | Sold |
Buy means purchase a position at or around current prices.
Buy a Quarter/Half means allocate less of your portfolio to a position than you normally would (due to risk factors).
Hold means maintain existing position; don’t add to it by buying more, but don’t sell.
Sell means to liquidate the entire (or remaining) position.
Sell a Quarter/Half means take partial profits, either 25% or 50%.
The next Sector Xpress Gold & Metals Advisor issue will be published on September 7, 2021.
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