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    A Golden Bet:

    Gold Mining Equities versus Gold

    Claude Erb

    TR

    February 17, 2014

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    Summary

    If there is a long-run equilibrium between gold and gold mining equities

    Then the price of gold suggests gold mining equities could rise 100%, and

    The price of gold mining equities suggests gold could fall 50%

    A seeming equilibrium relationship may be fundamental or behavioral

    A fundamental relationship may exist over many different time periods

    A behavioral relationship may hold over one period or many time periods

    A seeming long-run equilibrium may be more apparent than real

    2

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    Historical Gold and Gold Miner Equity Indices

    $0

    $200

    $400

    $600

    $800

    $1,000

    $1,200

    $1,400

    $1,600

    $1,800

    $2,000

    Price

    NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index Gold

    3

    Monthly Price Correlation 0.84

    Monthly Return Correlation 0.77

    Note: Bloomberg data. If the prices of two assets are highly correlated it is common to test for cointegration. If two asse t prices have an underlying

    long-term equilibrium relationship then they are often said to be cointegrated. Testing for cointegration is challenging. A pair of assets that perhapsappeared to be cointegrated in the past may not exhibit cointegration in the future. The reason for the change could be fundamental or behavioral.

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    A Behavioral View

    What if One Wants to Believe That Gold Drives Gold Miners

    $0

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    $400

    $600

    $800

    $1,000

    $1,200

    $1,400

    $1,600

    $1,800

    $2,000

    Price

    NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index "Gold Predicted" NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index

    4

    Note: Bloomberg data. The red line shows the in-sample regression based fitted value of the NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index conditional

    on the price of gold. Observing what seems to be a predictable relationship between two asset prices does not establish whether the seemingrelationship is a reflection of some concrete connection between the two assets or whether it is just a reflection of the way that certain market

    participants active in those assets behaved at a certain time.

    Actual

    Expected

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    A Behavioral View

    Alternatively, What if One Wants to Believe That Gold Miners Drive Gold

    $0

    $200

    $400

    $600

    $800

    $1,000

    $1,200

    $1,400

    $1,600

    $1,800

    $2,000

    Price

    Gold Price NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index Predicted" Gold Price

    5Note: Bloomberg data. The red line shows the in-sample regression based fitted value of the price of gold conditional on theNYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index

    Actual

    Expected

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    Whats Cheap? Whats Expensive?

    -$800

    -$600

    -$400

    -$200

    $0

    $200

    $400

    $600

    $800

    $1,000

    Price

    "Gold Mining Equities" Mispricing Gold Mispricing

    6

    Note: Bloomberg data. Mispricing is simply a fitted regression residual. For instance, the gold mining equity mispricing is the difference between

    the actual price of the NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index and the expected price of the index where the expected price is :Expected Gold Miner Price = intercept + b * the price of gold. The seeming wide mispricing may be a sign of opportunity or of a regime shift

    Expensive

    Cheap

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    A Few Building Blocks

    In order to compare gold miners to gold it makes sense to think about

    The actual and expected return of gold

    The actual and expected return of gold miners

    The valuation of gold

    The valuation of gold miners

    7

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    Expected Return

    Should gold miners match, exceed or underperform the return of gold?

    The price of gold reflects the supply and demand of already mined gold

    The value of a gold miner reflects the present value of yet to be mined gold

    Simplistically, what is the present value of a gold miner if

    It has no reserves or its reserves consistently decline

    Its cost of production is greater than the price of gold

    It goes bankrupt, for whatever reason

    Gold has been around for thousands of years, on-going miners have not 8

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    Gold Mining Equities:

    Horrible Performance Compared To Gold and Stocks

    $0.00

    $1.00

    $2.00

    $3.00

    $4.00

    $5.00

    $6.00

    $7.00

    Growthof$1

    (TotalReturn)

    NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index COMEX Gold S&P 500

    9

    Note: Bloomberg data. The backfilled inception date for the NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index (GDM) is September 1993. The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX)

    was launched in May of 2006. The since September 2006 returns for GDM and GDX are similar. How real the pre-2006 returns are is problematic. There areother gold miner indices: the NYSE ARCA Gold Bugs index (HUI) and the Philadelphia Gold and Silver index (XAU). Options have been traded on the XAU since

    the 1980s. HUI is seemingly just an index. GDM may not be the best index but it is investable.

    GDM Gold S&P 500

    Annualized Geometric Return 1.21% 6.31% 8.98%

    Annualized Standard Deviation 37.45% 16.32% 15.12%

    Time period: 9/1993 to 1/2014

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    Gold Mining Equities:

    Poor Index and Index Constituent Performance

    $0.00

    $0.50

    $1.00

    $1.50

    $2.00

    $2.50

    $3.00

    $3.50

    Growthof$1

    (TotalReturn)

    NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index Newmont Barrick

    10

    Note: Bloomberg data. The backfilled inception date for the NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index (GDM) is September 1993. Two of the largest constituents of the

    Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) are Newmont Mining (NEM) and Barrick Gold (ABX). The since September 1993 total returns for NEM and ABX are

    similar to those of the NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index (GDM).

    GDM Newmont Barrick

    Annualized Geometric Return 1.21% -1.66% 0.25%

    Annualized Standard Deviation 37.45% 40.23% 37.36%

    Time period: 9/1993 to 1/2014

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    Gold Miner Gold Beta Declines With The Investment Time Horizon

    1.76

    1.49

    1.09

    0.00

    0.20

    0.40

    0.60

    0.80

    1.00

    1.20

    1.40

    1.60

    1.80

    2.00

    One Month One Year Five Years

    GoldMinerGoldBe

    ta

    (

    September1993toJanua

    ry2014)

    12

    Note: Bloomberg data. Both the one year and the five year gold beta regression coefficients use overlapping return data. Th e data do not provide

    any information on the true underlying gold betas at any time horizon. The data provide a sense of what the estimated betas were during a giventime period. Future time periods could, of course, be different from the past. The possibility of gold betas declining with the investment horizon has

    multiple inconclusive explanations. Regressions of NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index excess returns on COMEX gold excess returns.

    Gold may be the major driver of gold miner returns

    Gold miner gold beta seems to decline as the investment horizon increases

    Apparently gold miners may not be a levered gold play, at long horizons

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    The Golden Constant

    $0

    $200

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    $800

    $1,000

    $1,200

    $1,400

    $1,600

    $1,800

    $2,000

    0 50 100 150 200 250

    COMEXGoldP

    rice

    (January1975toDece

    mber2013)

    U.S. CPI Index

    (January 1975 to December 2013)

    13

    The golden constant is an assertion that the price of gold keeps up with inflation

    In the long-run

    It can also be restated that the expected real price of gold is constant

    And the expected return of gold is simply the expected rate of inflation

    Note: Bloomberg data. Monthly observations.

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    The Golden Constant

    The Real Price of Gold is Like the Shiller CAPE Ratio for Gold

    0

    1

    2

    3

    4

    5

    6

    7

    8

    9

    10

    RealPriceofGold

    (GoldPrice/USCPIInd

    ex)

    Gold Price/US CPI Index Average

    14

    Note: Bloomberg data. Jastram wrote about the golden constant, the idea that the real purchasing power of gold has been constant over some

    undefined long time period. Erb and Harvey (2012a) presented a short-term version of the real price of gold, the ratio of the nominal gold price divided by

    the US CPI index. Erb and Harvey (2012b) found that this measure of the real price of gold was essentially the same everywhere. Erb and Harvey suggested

    that the real price of gold could be viewed as the price-earnings ratio of gold (where the level of an inflation index was substituted for earnings).

    Expensive

    Cheap

    Golden Dilemma

    http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2078535http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2148691http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2078535http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2078535http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2148691http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2078535
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    The Real Price of Gold and Subsequent Ten Year Real Gold Returns

    (January 1975 to January 2014)

    -15%

    -10%

    -5%

    0%

    5%

    10%

    15%

    20%

    0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

    Annu

    alizedNextTenYearRea

    lGoldPriceReturn

    Real Price of Gold

    (Gold Price/US CPI Index)

    15

    Note: Bloomberg data. The x-axis shows the real price of gold, defined as the price of gold divided by the level of the US CPI index. The y-axis shows the

    subsequent annualized ten year real return for the price of gold. For instance, take the real price of gold in January 1975 and match it with the real gold returnfor the following ten years, from January 1975 to January 1985

    A low real gold price has been followed

    by high real gold returns

    A high real gold price has been followed

    by low real gold returns

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    Ratio Analysis and Statistical Equilibrium

    Ratios are common and may or may not count what counts

    For instance, Shillers CAPE ratio or the real price of gold

    Ratios are often used to frame expectations of a statistical equilibrium

    For instance, the fair value of the stock market or gold

    Belief in ratios and statistical equilibrium is an act of faith, not an act of fact

    A challenge

    Ed Leamer: We are pattern-seeking, story-telling animals

    Howard Marks: its not what you buy; its what you pay for it

    Julius Caesar: Men willingly believe what they want to believe

    16

    http://www.amazon.com/Macroeconomic-Patterns-Stories-Edward-Leamer/dp/3540463887http://www.amazon.com/The-Most-Important-Thing-Thoughtful/dp/0231153686http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julius_Caesarhttp://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julius_Caesarhttp://www.amazon.com/The-Most-Important-Thing-Thoughtful/dp/0231153686http://www.amazon.com/Macroeconomic-Patterns-Stories-Edward-Leamer/dp/3540463887http://www.amazon.com/Macroeconomic-Patterns-Stories-Edward-Leamer/dp/3540463887http://www.amazon.com/Macroeconomic-Patterns-Stories-Edward-Leamer/dp/3540463887http://www.amazon.com/Macroeconomic-Patterns-Stories-Edward-Leamer/dp/3540463887http://www.amazon.com/Macroeconomic-Patterns-Stories-Edward-Leamer/dp/3540463887
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    Numerous Gold Miner Price/Gold Price Ratio References

    Many articles that seem to assume an equilibrium miner-gold relationship

    Often expressed as a Gold Miner/Gold Price Ratio

    Gold Stocks, the Gold Price and Market Timing

    The Adjusted Gold/XAU Ratio as an Indicator of Forward Returns for Gold Stocks

    Gold/XAU Ratio Signals Market Froth

    Four simple indicators for monitoring the condition of the precious metals markets

    Which Index is the Best to Use: the HUI, XAU or the GDX?

    This Indicator Hasnt Been Wrong in 27 Years And Right Now its Screaming Buy!

    17

    https://www.cass.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/69935/Gold-Stocks,-the-Gold-Price-and-Market-Timing.pdfhttp://www.advisorperspectives.com/newsletters11/pdfs/The_Adjusted_Gold-XAU_Ratio_as_an_Indicator_of_Forward_Returns_for_Gold_Stocks.pdfhttp://www.resourceinvestor.com/2006/01/11/goldxau-ratio-signals-market-frothhttp://www.hussmanfunds.com/html/gold.htmhttps://www.munknee.com/which-index-is-the-best-to-use-the-hui-xau-or-the-gdx/http://www.oilandenergydaily.com/2013/01/11/this-indicator-hasnt-been-wrong/http://www.oilandenergydaily.com/2013/01/11/this-indicator-hasnt-been-wrong/http://www.oilandenergydaily.com/2013/01/11/this-indicator-hasnt-been-wrong/http://www.oilandenergydaily.com/2013/01/11/this-indicator-hasnt-been-wrong/http://www.oilandenergydaily.com/2013/01/11/this-indicator-hasnt-been-wrong/http://www.oilandenergydaily.com/2013/01/11/this-indicator-hasnt-been-wrong/http://www.oilandenergydaily.com/2013/01/11/this-indicator-hasnt-been-wrong/http://www.oilandenergydaily.com/2013/01/11/this-indicator-hasnt-been-wrong/http://www.oilandenergydaily.com/2013/01/11/this-indicator-hasnt-been-wrong/http://www.oilandenergydaily.com/2013/01/11/this-indicator-hasnt-been-wrong/https://www.munknee.com/which-index-is-the-best-to-use-the-hui-xau-or-the-gdx/https://www.munknee.com/which-index-is-the-best-to-use-the-hui-xau-or-the-gdx/https://www.munknee.com/which-index-is-the-best-to-use-the-hui-xau-or-the-gdx/https://www.munknee.com/which-index-is-the-best-to-use-the-hui-xau-or-the-gdx/http://www.hussmanfunds.com/html/gold.htmhttp://www.hussmanfunds.com/html/gold.htmhttp://www.hussmanfunds.com/html/gold.htmhttp://www.hussmanfunds.com/html/gold.htmhttp://www.resourceinvestor.com/2006/01/11/goldxau-ratio-signals-market-frothhttp://www.resourceinvestor.com/2006/01/11/goldxau-ratio-signals-market-frothhttp://www.advisorperspectives.com/newsletters11/pdfs/The_Adjusted_Gold-XAU_Ratio_as_an_Indicator_of_Forward_Returns_for_Gold_Stocks.pdfhttp://www.advisorperspectives.com/newsletters11/pdfs/The_Adjusted_Gold-XAU_Ratio_as_an_Indicator_of_Forward_Returns_for_Gold_Stocks.pdfhttp://www.advisorperspectives.com/newsletters11/pdfs/The_Adjusted_Gold-XAU_Ratio_as_an_Indicator_of_Forward_Returns_for_Gold_Stocks.pdfhttp://www.advisorperspectives.com/newsletters11/pdfs/The_Adjusted_Gold-XAU_Ratio_as_an_Indicator_of_Forward_Returns_for_Gold_Stocks.pdfhttp://www.advisorperspectives.com/newsletters11/pdfs/The_Adjusted_Gold-XAU_Ratio_as_an_Indicator_of_Forward_Returns_for_Gold_Stocks.pdfhttp://www.advisorperspectives.com/newsletters11/pdfs/The_Adjusted_Gold-XAU_Ratio_as_an_Indicator_of_Forward_Returns_for_Gold_Stocks.pdfhttp://www.advisorperspectives.com/newsletters11/pdfs/The_Adjusted_Gold-XAU_Ratio_as_an_Indicator_of_Forward_Returns_for_Gold_Stocks.pdfhttps://www.cass.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/69935/Gold-Stocks,-the-Gold-Price-and-Market-Timing.pdfhttps://www.cass.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/69935/Gold-Stocks,-the-Gold-Price-and-Market-Timing.pdfhttps://www.cass.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/69935/Gold-Stocks,-the-Gold-Price-and-Market-Timing.pdfhttps://www.cass.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/69935/Gold-Stocks,-the-Gold-Price-and-Market-Timing.pdf
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    Wasting Asset

    NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index/Gold Price Ratio

    Price Ratio = -8E-05 x Time + 4.2838

    R = 0.2302

    0.00

    0.50

    1.00

    1.50

    2.00

    2.50

    PriceRatio

    NYSE Gold Miners Index/Gold Price

    18Note: Bloomberg data. Regress the price ratio (NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index/Gold Price Ratio) on time. The trend line declines over time. There is noobvious ex-ante narrative for this downward sloping trend line. However, ex post, it is possible to imagine that gold mines are wasting assets.

    Historically, the passage of time has been associated with a declining price ratio

    This could reflect the possibility that gold mines are wasting assets

    Whatever the true potential of a mine, its potential does not increase with time

    Rather it declines with time

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    Historically, An Inverse Relationship Between

    Future Relative Returns and the Current Price Ratio

    Next Five Year Relative Return = -0.2496 x GDM/Gold Price Ratio + 0.3211

    R = 0.6546

    -20%

    -15%

    -10%

    -5%

    0%

    5%

    10%

    15%

    20%

    25%

    30%

    0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

    AnnualizedNextFiveYearR

    elativeReturn

    GDM/GoldRetu

    rn

    NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index/Gold Price Ratio

    19

    Low Price Ratio

    High Relative Return

    High Price Ratio

    Low Relative Return

    Note: Bloomberg data. The X axis shows values of the NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index/Gold Price Ratio from September 1993 to January 2009. The Y axis displays

    the annualized rate of return for the price ratio over the next five years. So, for instance, the first data pair shows the price ratio for September 1993and the annualized five year price ratio return from September 1993 to September 1998.

    Current

    Ratio

    0.52

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    Gold Miner Index Price-To-Book Ratio And Miner/Gold Ratio

    0.00

    0.50

    1.00

    1.50

    2.00

    2.50

    3.00

    3.50

    4.00

    4.50

    0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80 2.00

    GDMP

    rice-To-BookRatio

    (M

    onthlyObservations,10/04to1/14)

    GDM Index/Gold Price Ratio

    (Monthly Observations, 10/04 to 1/14)

    NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index Current

    20Note: Bloomberg data.

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    If Gold Mining Equities Are So Attractive, Why The Aggressive Selling?

    21

    Note: Bloomberg data. There is, of course, a nuance to the idea that there was heavy selling of gold miners. By definition there must have also been

    heavy buying of the shares being sold. So, the sellers possibly lost patience with their investment or were convinced that things had fundamentallychanged for the worse. The buyers, rightly or wrongly, apparently did not share the sentiment of the sellers.

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    Conclusion

    It is possible to entertain the idea that inflation drives the price of gold

    It is possible there is an equilibrium gold and gold mining equities relationship

    It is possible to believe in the idea but there is no way to prove the belief

    However, given a willingness to assume such a relationship exists then

    The price of gold may be expensive

    The price of gold mining equities may be cheap

    22

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    References

    23

    Ap Gwilym, Owain, Andrew Clare, James Seaton and Stephen Thomas. 2010. "Gold Stocks, the Gold Price and Market Timing", Cass Business School working paper

    Asness, Clifford S. 2014. My Top 10 Peeves, Financial Analysts Journal, vol. 70, no. 1(January/February): 22-30

    Avellaneda, Marco and Jeong-Hyun Lee. 2009. Statistical Arbitrage in the U.S. Equities Market, working paper

    Campbell, John Y., Robert J. Shiller. 1998. Valuation Ratios and the Long-Run Stock Market Outlook, Journal of Portfolio Management, vol. 24, no. 2 (Winter): 11-

    26

    DiBartolomeo , Dan. 1993. Behavior of Gold Mining Equities: Gold Prices and Other Influences, Northfield research

    Do, Binh and Robert Faff. 2006. Does Simple Pairs Trading Still Work, Financial Analysts Journal,vol. 66, no. 4 (July/August): 83-95

    Erb, Claude B. 2014. Gold, the 'Fear Trade' and Mr. Market, SSRN working paper

    Erb, Claude B. and Campbell R. Harvey. 2012. An Impressionistic View of the Real Price of Gold Around the World, SSRN working paper

    Erb, Claude B. and Campbell R. Harvey. 2012. The Golden Dilemma, SSRN working paper

    Fama, Eugene F., Kenneth R. French. 1988. Dividend yields and expected stock returns, Journal of Financial Economics, 22: 325.

    Ferson, Wayne E., Sergei Sarkissian and Timothy Simin. 2003. "Is Stock Return Predictability Spurious?,Journal of Investment Managementvol. 1, no. 3: 10-19

    Gatev, Evan, William N. Goetzmann and K. Geert Rouwenhorst. 2006. Pairs Trading: Performance of a Relative Value Arbitrage Rule, SSRN working paper

    Hillier, David, Paul Draper and Robert Faff. 2006. Do Precious Metals Shine? An Investment Perspective , Financial Analysts Journal, vol. 62, no. 2 (March/April):

    99-106

    Leamer, Edward E. 2008. Macroeconomic Patterns and Stories. Springer

    Marks, Howard. 2011. The Most Important Thing: Uncommon Sense for the Thoughtful Investor. Columbia University Press

    Tufano, Peter. 1998. "The Determinants of Stock Price Exposure: Financial Engineering and the Gold Mining Industry", Journal of Finance, vol. 53, no. 3: 1015-1052

    Valkanov, Rosen. 2003. Long-Horizon Regressions: Theoretical Results and Applications, Journal of Financial Economics, 68: 201-232

    https://www.cass.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/69935/Gold-Stocks,-the-Gold-Price-and-Market-Timing.pdfhttp://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2469/faj.v70.n1.2http://math.nyu.edu/faculty/avellane/AvellanedaLeeStatArb20090616.pdfhttp://aida.wss.yale.edu/~shiller/online/jpmalt.pdfhttp://www.northinfo.com/documents/41.pdfhttp://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2469/faj.v66.n4.1http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2382937http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2148691http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2078535https://www.joim.com/abstract.asp?IsArticleArchived=1&ArtID=33http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=141615http://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2469/faj.v62.n2.4085http://www.amazon.com/Macroeconomic-Patterns-Stories-Edward-Leamer-ebook/dp/B003TU0X9Q/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392661495&sr=1-4&keywords=leamerhttp://www.amazon.com/The-Most-Important-Thing-Thoughtful/dp/0231153686http://118.96.136.31/ejurnal/Working%20Paper%20JFE/JFE%2003%20Long-horizon%20regressions.pdfhttp://118.96.136.31/ejurnal/Working%20Paper%20JFE/JFE%2003%20Long-horizon%20regressions.pdfhttp://118.96.136.31/ejurnal/Working%20Paper%20JFE/JFE%2003%20Long-horizon%20regressions.pdfhttp://118.96.136.31/ejurnal/Working%20Paper%20JFE/JFE%2003%20Long-horizon%20regressions.pdfhttp://www.amazon.com/The-Most-Important-Thing-Thoughtful/dp/0231153686http://www.amazon.com/Macroeconomic-Patterns-Stories-Edward-Leamer-ebook/dp/B003TU0X9Q/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1392661495&sr=1-4&keywords=leamerhttp://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2469/faj.v62.n2.4085http://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2469/faj.v62.n2.4085http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=141615https://www.joim.com/abstract.asp?IsArticleArchived=1&ArtID=33http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2078535http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2148691http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2382937http://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2469/faj.v66.n4.1http://www.northinfo.com/documents/41.pdfhttp://aida.wss.yale.edu/~shiller/online/jpmalt.pdfhttp://aida.wss.yale.edu/~shiller/online/jpmalt.pdfhttp://aida.wss.yale.edu/~shiller/online/jpmalt.pdfhttp://math.nyu.edu/faculty/avellane/AvellanedaLeeStatArb20090616.pdfhttp://www.cfapubs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.2469/faj.v70.n1.2https://www.cass.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/69935/Gold-Stocks,-the-Gold-Price-and-Market-Timing.pdf
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    Additional Materials

    24

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    Gold Mining Equity/Gold Price Metric

    Many references to a ratio of a gold mining stock index price/gold price

    Justification seems to be someone else said it works

    Generally three versions of this metric

    NYSE ARCA Gold Miners Index/Gold Price Ratio (GDM/Gold)

    Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index/Gold Price Ratio (XAU/Gold)

    NYSE ARCA Gold BUGS Index/Gold Price (HUI/Gold)

    A low ratio is usually taken to mean that gold mining equities are cheap

    Why not take it to mean gold is expensive?

    25

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    Gold and GDM Gold Miner Index

    $0

    $200

    $400

    $600

    $800

    $1,000

    $1,200

    $1,400

    $1,600

    $1,800

    $2,000

    $0

    $200

    $400

    $600

    $800

    $1,000

    $1,200

    $1,400

    $1,600

    $1,800

    $2,000

    IndexPrice

    GoldPrice

    Gold NYSE Arca Gold Miners Ix

    26Note: Bloomberg data

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    An Alternative Gold Miner Index

    $0

    $50

    $100

    $150

    $200

    $250

    $0

    $200

    $400

    $600

    $800

    $1,000

    $1,200

    $1,400

    $1,600

    $1,800

    $2,000

    IndexPrice

    GoldPrice

    Gold PHILADELPHIA GOLD & SILVER INDX

    27Note: Bloomberg data

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    An Alternative Gold Miner Index

    $0

    $100

    $200

    $300

    $400

    $500

    $600

    $700

    $0

    $200

    $400

    $600

    $800

    $1,000

    $1,200

    $1,400

    $1,600

    $1,800

    $2,000

    IndexPrice

    GoldPrice

    Gold NYSE Arca Gold BUGS

    28Note: Bloomberg data

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    Somewhat Different Gold Miner Index Price Performance

    $0

    $1

    $1

    $2

    $2

    $3

    $3

    $4

    $4

    PriceIndexedtoDecember1994Price

    NYSE Arca Gold BUGS PHILA GOLD & SILVER INDX NYSE Arca Gold Miners Ix

    29Note: Bloomberg data

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    Gold Miner Index Price-To-Book Ratios And Miner/Gold Ratio

    0.00

    0.50

    1.00

    1.50

    2.00

    2.50

    3.00

    3.50

    4.00

    4.50

    0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80 2.00

    Price-To-BookRatio

    (MonthlyObservations,10

    /04to1/14)

    GDM Index/Gold Price Ratio

    (Monthly Observations, 10/04 to 1/14)

    PHILA GOLD & SILVER INDX NYSE Arca Gold BUGS NYSE Arca Gold Miners Ix

    30Note: Bloomberg data

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    Philadelphia Gold and Silver Index (XAU)/Gold Price Ratio

    0.00

    0.05

    0.10

    0.15

    0.20

    0.25

    0.30

    0.35

    0.40

    PriceRatio

    XAU /Gold Price Average Time Trend

    31

    Note: Bloomberg data

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    NYSE ARCA Gold BUGS (HUI)/Gold Price Ratio

    0.00

    0.10

    0.20

    0.30

    0.40

    0.50

    0.60

    0.70

    PriceRatio

    HUI/Gold Price Ratio Average Time Trend

    32

    Note: Bloomberg data

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    How Similar or Dissimilar Have the Price Ratios Been?

    0.00

    0.50

    1.00

    1.50

    2.00

    2.50

    0.00

    0.10

    0.20

    0.30

    0.40

    0.50

    0.60

    0.70

    GDMP

    riceRatio

    XAUandHUIPriceRa

    tios

    XAU/Gold HUI/Gold GDM/Gold

    33

    XAU/Gold

    GDM/Gold

    HUI/Gold

    If an index is cheap, the cheapness is only exploitable if the index is tradable

    GDM is associated with a tradable ETF (GDX)

    XAU has traded options

    HUI is seemingly just an index

    Note: Bloomberg data


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