Precious Metals Investing Shines Amid Market Turmoil

Precious metals investing is a pursuit which attracts many investors, including me.

Gold, silver and other precious metals are generally regarded as safe-haven investments in times of market turmoil, as their value is considered to be intrinsic and less connected to other asset classes compared to the broader stock market. Many exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer exposure to segments of the precious metals industry, often by investing in mining companies or companies that make their profits somewhere along the supply chain.

However, a select few allow the opportunity for a more direct investment. These funds invest assets in physical bullion, letting investors essentially own shares in the metals themselves as a commodity. One of these is abrdn Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF (GLTR).

This fund’s holdings are simple and easy to understand. They include gold bullion (about 60% of its assets) and physical silver bullion (about 25%), with the remainder divided between palladium and platinum bullion. The fund’s price moves in line with the weighted prices of the assets in question.

It is not surprising that GLTR’s share price is currently near a high, given the accretive price action in gold and other precious metals in the last two months. Consider that in the last 12 months, GLTR is up 1.3%, putting it just ahead of the S&P 500’s performance in the same time frame. The fund is up 5.4% in calendar year 2023.

Chart courtesy of www.StockCharts.com

Assets under management for this fund total $1 billion. The expense ratio for this fund is 0.60%. This fund offers investors the opportunity to invest in physical metals without exposing themselves to decisions and business conditions related to any specific companies or groups of companies.

For those looking for a pure play on the value of gold and other precious metals, abrdn Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF (GLTR) shines as a provider of such an opportunity.

As always, I am happy to answer any of your questions about ETFs, so do not hesitate to send me an email. You may just see your question answered in a future ETF Talk.

Jim Woods

Jim Woods is a 20-plus-year veteran of the markets with varied experience as a broker, hedge fund trader, financial writer, author and newsletter editor. Jim is the editor of Intelligence Report, Investing Edge, the Bullseye Stock Trader, and The Deep Woods (formerly the Weekly ETF Report). His books include co-authoring, “Billion Dollar Green: Profit from the Eco Revolution,” and “The Wealth Shield: How to Invest and Protect Your Money from Another Stock Market Crash, Financial Crisis or Global Economic Collapse.” He’s also ghostwritten many books and articles, as well as edited content for some of the investment industry’s biggest luminaries. His articles have appeared on many leading financial websites, including StockInvestor.com, InvestorPlace.com, Main Street Investor, MarketWatch, Street Authority, Human Events and many others. Jim formerly worked with Investor’s Business Daily founder William J. O’Neil, helping to author training courses in the CANSLIM stock-picking methodology. The independent firm TipRanks rates Jim the No. 3 financial blogger in the world (out of more than 6,000). TipRanks calculates that, since 2012, he's made 361 successful recommendations out of 499 total, earning a success rate of 72% and a +15.3% average return per recommendation. He is known in professional and personal circles as “The Renaissance Man,” because his expertise includes such varied fields as composing and performing music; Western horsemanship, combat marksmanship, martial arts, auto racing and bodybuilding. Jim holds a BA in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a former U.S. Army paratrooper. A self-described “radical for capitalism,” he celebrates the virtue of making money from his Southern California horse ranch.