Silver has been an outperformer in the current year with a year-to-date gain of 43%. Gold has risen 25% YTD, Market Realist reported. Most mining companies also reversed their 2015 losses during the first few months of 2016, posting substantial gains. The correlation between mining stocks and precious metals remains high. On average, miners follow gold’s price direction almost 50% of the time. Mining stocks rose on Thursday following the gains in the precious metals. Mining giants Goldcorp, Newmont Mining, Silver Wheaton, and Barrick Gold have risen by 56.9%, 125.2%, 110.4%, and 176.6%, respectively, on a YTD basis. Safe-haven bids were the most important factors behind the rises of gold and gold mining companies.
