With the Standard & Poor’s 500 index up nearly 30 percent in 2013, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average not far behind on a gain of 26.50 percent, there is no question that the sharp acceleration in the nearly five-year old bull market has been a bonanza for stocks.
But the spectacular gains for equities over the recently-ended year was accompanied by the inverse but no less spectacular decline of the price of gold. Indeed, the traditional safe-haven investment began 2013 at just shy of $1,700 per ounce, losing some $500 by the close of the last trading session on Dec. 31 to beneath $1,200 per ounce.
Many factors have no doubt contributed to this precipitous decline, such as the near-catastrophic banking crisis in Cyprus earlier in the year. Perhaps most significant of these by far, however, has been the Fed’s support of the economy through a massive fiscal stimulus program, one that has kept interest rates artificially low, removing a great chunk of the perceived risk typically associated with equity markets.
Gold’s bloodbath of a year has understandably been accompanied by a great deal of attention in financial media, and the general tone of much of this commentary has been one of crisis and disaster. The yellow metal has even been pronounced dead on numerous occasions, though there are many who have rightly pointed out that this is an overstatement at best. Some of the sharpest commodities analysts and investors, such as Rick Rule and Doug Casey, have convincingly argued that now is precisely the moment at which investors should be buying gold, given the enormous discount at which it can be purchased at the moment.
The path ahead for precious metals in general is likely to remain a rough one however, particularly from the perspective of gold equity plays. Along with the decline in gold prices, gold stocks, every single one of them with the exception of the jeweler Kingold Jewelry, Inc. (KGJI) , have taken substantial losses throughout the year.
The following are the stocks, listed by market-cap, that had the worst time in 2013.
Large-Caps
Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM)
Market-Cap: $11.47 billion
Price: $24.05
2013 Loss: -49 percent
Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX)
Market-Cap: $17.65 billion
Price: $18.32
2013 Loss: -48.50 percent
Goldcorp Inc. (GG)
Market-Cap: $17.60 billion
Price: $22.67
2013 Loss: -39.65 percent
Mid-Caps
Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI)
Market-Cap: $2.35 billion
Price: $3.24
2013 Loss: -70 percent
Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (BVN)
Market-Cap: $2.85 billion
Price: $11.44
2013 Loss: -68 percent
AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU)
Market-Cap: $4.57 billion
Price: $12.17
2013 Loss: -62.50 percent
Small-Caps
Allied Nevada Gold Corp. (ANV)
Market-Cap: $370.68 million
Price: $3.80
2013 Loss: -88 percent
Harmony Gold Mining Co. Inc. (HMY)
Market-Cap: $1.09 billion
Price: $2.58
2013 Loss: -71.50 percent
IAMGOLD Corp. (IAG)
Market-Cap: $1.25 billion
Price: $3.46
2013 Loss: -69 percent
Micro-Caps
Banro Corporation (BAA)
Market-Cap: $133.45 million
Price: $0.61
2013 Loss: -80 percent
Golden Star Resources (GSS)
Market-Cap: $114 million
Price: $0.49
2013 Loss: -76 percent
Gold Resource Corp. (GORO)
Market-Cap: $245.54 million
Price: $4.62
2013 Loss: -69 percent
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