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It was a negative week for Precious Metals investors as Gold lost ground moving from a close of $629.60 last Friday down to a close of $618.50 this week. For Feb Gold, the week saw prices ease by $11.10 or 1.76%. At the same time, large cap mining stocks also came under selling pressure with the widely-watched Philly Gold and Silver Index (XAU) ending lower by .96 to close at a reading of 142.69, down from 143.65 the prior week. For the XAU, prices have been easing over the balance of the last 9 sessions since the index peaked near 150 on Dec 5th. Importantly, smaller cap stocks have been showing excellent relative strength — highlighting what could be the greater potential value found in the small cap sector. Financial Sense Junior Gold Index Over the last few weeks, we have been working to broaden the Financial Sense Junior Gold Mining Index (FSJG) to do an even better job of capturing the price action in this important segment of the resource sector. In our efforts, extensive work has been done on the Exploration Index in particular, which has more than doubled in size. We will have more details and some historical data for interested readers on the upgrades to the FSJG Indices in the coming weeks—so stay tuned. 50-day & 200-day Moving Averages
Meanwhile, to get an idea of the recent trends, we will take our usual walk through the four FSJG charts. Beginning with the FSJG Index (above), we note that the index closed lower this week, down 2.40 index points to finish at 282.25, down from 284.45. At week's end, the index remained above the 50-day average at 253.98 and the 200-day average at 242.55. Elsewhere, the Junior Producer Index slipped by 4.51 index points to end at 323.77, down from 328.28 for a decline of 1.37%. On Friday, the 50-day average ended at 284.41 with the 200-day 273.84. Producer Companies
Over the last few weeks, it has been the Junior Development Index which has lagged the most behind the overall average and has—to this point in time—conspicuously NOT yet recorded a new multi-year high. For the week, the FSJG Development Index ended at 690.97, down 21.80 index points or 3.05% from the prior week's close of 712.77. Development Companies 
Finally, the star in recent weeks has been the Junior Exploration Index where the market for new discoveries has been “red hot”. On Friday, the FSJG Exploration Index ended at 145.41, finishing the week with a GAIN of 2.67 index points or 1.89%. As is the case with all of the indices, the Junior Exploration Index ended comfortably above the 50-day average at 127.45 and the 200-day average at 112.24. The strength in these smaller stocks over the course of the last few weeks has been quite compelling and argues that the Gold Sector is still very much within the confines of an ongoing bull trend. Exploration Companies
That’s all for now, Frank Financial Sense Junior Gold Index Archive *Please note that the individual companies in this index are proprietary and will not be disclosed due to compliance and regulatory issues resulting from the relationship of FinancialSense.com, Puplava Financial Services, Inc., Registered Investment Advisor and Puplava Securities, Inc. Member Firm FINRA/SIPC. |
