The World Gold Council just put out Q2 2010 Trends.
Highlights:
- Jewelry Sales: “5% decrease in jewelry sales over the prior year. On this date last year, gold closed at $950… which is $286 below where it trades as I write. In other words, a 30% rise in price has resulted in a decrease of just 5% in jewelry sales.”
- Physical gold: “Demand in Q2 rose by a whopping 36%. More tellingly, the increase was 77% when you take into account the dollar value of the ounces purchased.”
- “As you’ve already figured out, the bulk of the physical demand is coming from investment – with the amount of gold held by *ETFs growing 414% over the previous year.”
- Gold Mining Stocks: “In previous recent stock market corrections, people thought of gold stocks more in terms of being stocks and overlooked their direct connection to gold. That appears to be changing, with a divergence between gold stocks and the broader markets. The leverage in gold stocks to gold bullion could make them especially attractive.”
Original Article Source – Casey Research
Original Data Source – World Gold Council Q2 Presentation
Definitions:
ETF – (also known as Exchange-Traded Product (ETP)) is an investment fund traded on stock exchanges, much like stocks.[1] An ETF holds assets such as stocks or bonds and trades at approximately the same price as the net asset value of its underlying assets over the course of the trading day. Most ETFs track an index, such as the S&P 500 or MSCI EAFE. ETFs may be attractive as investments because of their low costs, tax efficiency, and stock-like features.