Investors back in love with gold as top ETF inflows strongest since March 2022

Investors rushed back into the popular SPDR Gold Shares ETF (NYSEARCA:GLD) with net inflows of more than $1B in November, as gold prices rallied to record highs on expectations that the Federal Reserve could start cutting interest rates as early as March.

The $57.8B fund is up nearly 11% this year, but still lags the broader S&P 500, which has jumped nearly 20% YTD.

The fund ended November with a 2.5% gain but fell 2.1% on Monday, as Comex gold (XAUUSD:CUR) for February delivery closed -2.3% to $2,042.20/oz after settling Friday at all-time high of $2,089.70 and rising early Monday to a fresh intraday record high $2,152.30.

Among some other ETFs tracking gold, the $26B iShares Gold Trust (NYSEARCA:IAU) sustained net outflows of $388.5M in November, while the $6.2B SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust (NYSEARCA:GLDM) enjoyed inflows of $23.6M for the month, according to Reuters.

Other relevant ETFs include (GDX), (GDXJ), (NUGT), (PHYS), (AAAU), (SGOL), (BAR), (OUNZ)

Gold mining stocks finished broadly lower, including New Gold (NGD) -6%, AngloGold Ashanti (AU) -5.2%, Gold Fields (GFI) -4.9%, Iamgold (IAG) -4.3%, Franco Nevada (FNV) -2.7%.

Silver miners mostly fared even worse, including Endeavour Silver (EXK) -7.1%, Hecla Mining (HL) -4.4%, Silvercorp Metals (SVM) -3.8%, Coeur Mining (CDE) -3.6%, Fortuna Silver Mines (FSM) -2.9%.

UBS analysts said gold has again shown its role in diversifying portfolio returns and hedging against risks, but they warned against chasing the recent gains following such a strong rally and the implied expectations for aggressive Federal Reserve rate cuts.