Laying The Golden Egg:
Gold carries the most attention within the materials group to the detriment of other metals that have been thriving. Steel, copper and aluminum that are used for industrial purposes, have been doing most of the heavy lifting in the group YTD. Steel and aluminum have advanced in the 70% neighborhood in 2021 thus far. But gold has been on the move as of late. Last week the GLD rose 3.6%, its best gain since the week ending 11/6/20, and it was accompanied in better than average WEEKLY volume. The ETF has been below its 200 day SMA for 3 months now, and the ETF is lower by 4% this year so far. Compare that to the individual name below in NEM, which has advanced 15% in 2021. It is well above both its 50 and 200 day SMAs thus far and has the look of a bull flag formation on its daily chart. A breakthrough the 69.50 level carries a measured move to 79 (it also recorded a bullish golden cross this week). Here is the WEEKLY chart which looks even better to me. A WEEKLY CLOSE above the round 70 number (was above intraweek 3 weeks in a row between weeks ending 7/31-8/14/20, but could not CLOSE above 70) would be a nice catalyst to move this nicely higher into the summer.