Monthly Portfolio Review, May 2024
Have we entered a darker version of the 1970s?
April might be the month when the US entered an (even darker) version of the 1970s. Inflation and interest rates are both trending up, wars are breaking out everywhere, civil unrest is spreading — and commodity prices are emerging from multi-year doldrums.
Readers of a certain age will remember how the 1970s turned out for gold and silver.
Macro News
Long-predicted consumer pullback finally hits restaurants like Starbucks, KFC and McDonald’s
Is a Volker-like series of rate hikes in the cards?
Middle-Class Americans Don’t Care What Paul Krugman’s Charts Say About Inflation
How Big Tech Is Consuming America’s Electricity and Water
Sector News
Marin Katusa: Copper’s Big Moment
China's gold consumption rises 5.94% y/y in Q1, imports from Hong Kong up 40% m/m in March
Central banks are buying the gold top
Newmont beats quarterly profit, production estimates on Newcrest assets boost
Biggest copper mines produced 20% less silver in 2023
Shortages key to copper's upward price trajectory to new peaks
Copper demand to boom as new technology drives power consumption, Trafigura says
Silver and Gold: The Winning Bet
Costco selling as much as $200 million in gold bars monthly, Wells Fargo estimates
MKS’ Nicky Shiels asks if Costco gold is the market's new ETF moment
Nebraska Ends Income Taxes on Gold and Silver, Declares CBDCs Are Not Money
India's February silver imports hit record and set to rise 66% this year
Commodity ETFs are finally appearing on investor radars
Italy sees role for nuclear energy to meet green goals, minister says
Portfolio Company News
NexGen Announces Upsized C$224 Million CDI Offering in Australia
Cameco Reports Q1 Results: 2024 Outlook Remains Solid
Snowline Gold Corp. Announces C$25.0 Million Bought Deal Private Placement of Flow-Through Shares
Nevada King intercepts 4.51 g/t AU over 86.3M
Gold Royalty Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
Royal Gold Provides Q1 2024 Guidance
Biden administration says Enbridge pipeline shutdown order should be reconsidered
New Found Intercepts 17.8 g/t Au Over 13.5m, 27.7 g/t Au Over 2.7m
West Red Lake to commence production mid-decade
i-80 Gold Announces High-Grade Results from Underground Drilling at Cove
SilverCrest reports strong Q1 production
West Red Lake Gold Intersects 68.36 g/t Au over 1.1m and 13.83 g/t Au over 3.95m
Elemental Altus Royalties reports record annual revenue for 2023
New Found to Acquire Labrador Gold’s Kingsway Project
Snowline Gold Consolidates 100% of Its Einarson Project and Acquires Adjacent Gold Target
A conversation with Dolly Varden’s head geologist Rob van Egmond
Lion One Drills 448.98 g/t, 202.34 g/t, and 108.5 g/t Gold at Tuvatu
Portfolio Discussion
Not so long ago, the portfolio I had carefully constructed for this newsletter looked like a Civil War battlefield. Uranium stocks were still standing, but they were surrounded by the mangled bodies of a couple dozen gold/silver miners, victims of one of the worst bear markets in that sector’s recent history. It was ugly — and it was embarrassing to me as the portfolio’s creator.
Now things are a little better. Uranium stocks are still way up, the copper miners have joined them, and gold/silver stocks are following the underlying metals higher. Some of the senior gold/silver miners are even reporting strong earnings (see Newmont’s Q1 report). So, finally, the gold/silver part of our portfolio is at least partially in the green.
There’s much further to go before it’s time to start taking profits, but that day is now on the horizon.
As always, be optimistic but cautious about these stocks. Add to your favorite names via dollar cost averaging, lowball bids, and put writing.
See the newly-posted Table of Contents for background posts on these stocks.