Gold miners to shine again?

Gold miners to shine again?

Gold stocks have experienced a slow decline so far this year. Ani Markova, co-manager of the Smith & Williamson Global Gold & Resources fund, asks whether the shine will return to the precious metal soon

Since the 1960s, broader equities and gold stocks on average have generally outperformed bullion during equity bull markets (see table below). During equity bear markets, gold stocks and bullion both outperformed broader equities. Even though we have witnessed a strong S&P 500 bull market in the last few years, gold stocks have not done well until this year. Investors were skeptical of miners' general policy of growth at any cost, which caused escalating spending industry-wide. This sentiment was driven in part by gold's run-up on the back of speculative bullion ETF demand. Unfort...