ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures ETF (SVXY)

Kinross Gold is a Canada-based gold producer, producing roughly 2 million gold equivalent ounces in 2025. The company had about a decade of gold reserves at the end of 2025. It operates mines in the Americas and West Africa after selling its low-cost Russian operations in 2022 in response to the invasion of Ukraine. It has historically used acquisitions to fuel expansion into new regions and production growth. In 2022, Kinross purchased the Great Bear project in Canada. If developed as we think likely, it could produce an average of more than 500,000 ounces of gold per year for at least a decade, with its unit cash costs likely in the first quartile of the industry cost curve. Though Great Bear's production is likely to be replacement ounces for falling volumes at other mines.

Founded in 1921, Denver-based Newmont Corp. is the world's largest gold mining company, with assets and operations in North America, South America, Australia/New Zealand, and Africa. While approximately 85% of its revenues come from gold, the company is also a major producer of copper. The company has about 17,500 employees. It is the only gold producer in the S&P 500.

Newmont is the world's largest gold miner. It bought Goldcorp in 2019, combined its Nevada mines in a joint venture with competitor Barrick later that year, and also purchased competitor Newcrest in November 2023. Its portfolio includes 11 mines and interests in two joint ventures in the Americas, Africa, Australia, and Papua New Guinea. The company is expected to sell roughly 5.3 million ounces of gold in 2026 from its continuing mines after selling six higher-cost, smaller mines following the Newcrest acquisition. Newmont also produces material amounts of copper, silver, zinc, and lead as byproducts. It had about two decades of gold reserves, along with significant byproduct reserves at the end of December 2025.

When global economic conditions become uncertain, investors often flock to gold. The yellow metal is currently trading at around $4,040 per ounce, up 58% for the year and near the high end of its five-year range of $1,660-$4,200. Gold has been on an upward arc since the start of the pandemic, when the spot price for an ounce of gold jumped 33% in six months. Gold next spiked in 2022 due to the war in Ukraine. And over the past year, gold has jumped another 60%, driven by uncertainty over trade. The current price also reflects the perceived safety of hard assets amid global conflicts, as well as expectations for lower U.S. interest rates, which tend to weaken the dollar (the currency in which gold is priced). Our forecast trading range for gold in 2025 is $2,500-$4,500 and our average price forecast for the year is $3,400. This compares to average gold prices of $2,450 in 2024 and $1,960 in 2023. Is the current upward trend sustainable? From a technical standpoint, the price of gold is in a long-term bullish trend of higher highs and higher lows. But this latest spike is outsized. On average during this century, the price of gold has traded at a 6% premium to its 12-month moving average. The standard deviation is 9%. The current premium is 25%, or more than two standard deviations above the norm. For a fundamental valuation, we compare the price of gold to the value of the S&P 500. Over the past 45 years, the S&P 500 has been priced in a normal range of 1- to 3-times an ounce of old. A reading above 3 likely reflects too much confidence in the S&P 500, while a reading below 1 is a nosebleed price for gold. (The all-time low ratio was 0.17 in 1980.) The current ratio is about 1.7, not far from the long-term average. As long as geopolitics are flaring and the global economy is wobbling, gold is likely to remain at elevated levels. Our target price range in 2026 is $3,200-$5,200, with an average price of $4,500.