Three Thursdays ago (April 8), I wrote about the upturn in the price of gold and gold stocks. At the time, gold was breaking through a bullish "neckline" in a head and shoulders bottom while the Gold Miners Index was breaking through its March high. On Tuesday, I showed the Gold ETF (GLD) reaching a new 2010 high after a successful retest of its neckline. Today I'm going to focus on mining stocks which are starting to emerge as new market leaders. Chart 1 shows the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) trading at the highest level since January. This week's upside breakout has also taken place on rising volume which is another positive sign. So is the fact that the GDX/SPX relative strength ratio (below chart) is rising above its 2010 down trendline. That shows new leadership. The reasons for the latest upturn in gold assets are twofold. One is simply the fact that commodity prices have been lagging behind stocks and are starting to play catchup. Another is that gold plays a dual role as an alternate currency and is attracting some money coming out of Europe. [Gold is trading at a record high against the Euro, the British Pound, and the Swiss Franc]. The second point is illustrated by the fact that gold rose earlier in the week (when Greek debt was downgraded to junk) while most other commodities fell.
