Gold has been a bitter disappointment to its boosters in recent weeks. Bullion is down 4.6% this year, and most of the leading stocks are down far more than that. These setbacks came at a time when gold was getting more publicity as a haven investment than it has received in decades. Gold has been hurt by two rallies—first the dollar, then the bank stocks. More recently, investors have been spooked by the deal for the IMF to sell 403 tonnes of gold, at a time Indians, traditionally the most reliable buyers, are on strike. That 500 tonnes of scrap gold has come to the markets this year is a bad news/good news story: it’s a huge amount for markets to absorb, but it proves anew that gold is a precious asset in tough times. Gold stocks remain core investments within equity portfolios, reducing overall portfolio volatility. They will be superstars when the dollar finally falls, and people begin to get genuinely worried about inflation’s return. The stocks will outperform bullion on the upside.

[My Comment: SGR is the exception to the norm - what happens with the gold market in general does factor into SGR, but SGR is also making its own story and as the Hinge develops, the pending 43-101 is issued and the TSX uplisting occurs, those factors will override any downward pull of general market, IMO. What we don't know is when these three major steps will play out, so there may be short-term downward pressure until they come through, again JMHO. NL]