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Chicago, IL – August 31, 2026 – Zacks Market Edge is a podcast hosted weekly by Zacks Stock Strategist Tracey Ryniec. Every week, Tracey will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life. To listen to the podcast, click here: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/2981443/how-to-invest-in-gold-stocks-and-etfs-right-now
How to Invest in Gold Stocks and ETFs Right Now
Welcome to Episode #498 of the Zacks Market Edge Podcast.
(0:30) - Should You Be Investing Into Gold Right Now?
(4:15) - Are ETFs The Best Way to Gain Exposure Into Gold?
Every week, host and Zacks stock strategist, Tracey Ryniec, is joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds, and ETFs and how it impacts your life.
This week, Tracey went solo to re-visit the gold trade. Gold has been on a tear over the last year, gaining 37.1%.
Gold prices peaked at new all-time highs on Jan 29, 2026, around $5,589 per ounce. But over the last six months, it's taken a time out. The price slid to around $4,000 per ounce through the end of July.
But gold has staged a big comeback over the last month with August 2026 looking to be the best month for the yellow metal since 2008. Gold is up 14% over the last month, and year-to-date, is now up 7.4%.
Gold is trading around $4700 per ounce. However, that's well below the January 2026 all-time high of $5589.
Investing in Gold: Buying the Gold ETF or the Gold Miners?
There are three ways to invest in gold. Investors can buy the physical gold through jewelry, coins, and gold bars. Many investors have been buying gold jewelry and bars from Costco. For a brief period, Costco was even sold out of the gold bars.
You can also buy the physical gold through various gold ETFs that are benchmarked to the physical gold price.
Or you can buy the gold mining companies. These are the companies that own the actual mines and are getting the gold out of the ground.
For the purposes of this podcast, Tracey talked about the methods using ETFs and individual gold mining stocks.
Buying the Physical Gold ETFs
Wall Street has made it easy to own physical gold if you don't want to buy any from Costco. You can buy a gold ETF that is backed by physical gold.
SPDR Gold Shares ETF is the oldest of the gold ETFs that is backed by the physical metal. GLD launched on Nov 18, 2004, and gathered $1 billion in assets within just three trading days. It was the quickest launch of an ETF to $1 billion in assets up until that time.
GLD now has $130.3 billion in net assets. It has an expense ratio of 0.4%.
There's no dividend because investors are simply buying the physical gold.
Shares of GLD are up 148% over the last 5 years.
If you are looking simply to buy gold, and you don't want to bother with jewelry or gold bars, then the GLD is an easy way to get gold exposure.
Two Choices: The Gold Miner ETFs or Individual Gold Mining Stocks
A second way to get gold exposure is by buying the stocks of gold mining companies. Investors can achieve this by buying a basket of gold miners in an ETF or by buying individual gold mining company stocks.
The VanEck Gold Miners ETF is the oldest gold miner ETF. It was launched on May 16, 2006. GDX is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year.
GDX has 64 holdings with its two largest holdings being Agnico Eagle Mines at 10.77% of the ETF and Newmont which is 10.73%.
It has total net assets of $31.85 billion. GDX has an expense ratio of 0.51%.
The gold mining stocks have rallied big over the prior month, easily outperforming gold. GDX is up 37% over the last month. Year-to-date it is up 21%, easily outperforming gold which is up only 7.4%.
Because this ETF owns gold mining companies, many of which are paying dividends, it also pays a dividend, which is currently yielding 0.9%.
If you want to take the guesswork out of it when buying the gold miners, and just want to own a basket of companies, an ETF like VanEck Gold Miners ETF, should be on your short list.
But you can also own the individual gold mining companies. Newmont is the world's largest gold mining company. It has a market cap of $138.7 billion.
In the second quarter of 2026, Newmont reported record second quarter free cash flow of $2.2 billion. It has been paying down debt with the cash but also has a $6 billion share repurchase program, of which $4.3 billion remained as of the end of Q2 2026. It also pays a dividend yielding 0.8%.
Newmont had a net cash position at the end of the second quarter of 2026 of $3.4 billion.
Shares of Newmont have soared in the last month as gold turned around. It's up 42.5% in the last 30 days. Year-to-date, Newmont is outperforming gold. It's up 33.4% compared to gold, which is up 7.4%.
Newmont is a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) as the analysts recently cut estimates due to higher costs. But Newmont is still expected to grow its earnings 30.8% this year.
The Zacks Rank is a short-term recommendation of 1 to 3 months.
Should gold investors consider owning a large cap gold miner like Newmont?
What Else Should You Know About How to Invest in Gold?
Tune into this week's podcast to find out.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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Zacks Market Edge Highlights: GLD, GDX and NEM
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – August 31, 2026 – Zacks Market Edge is a podcast hosted weekly by Zacks Stock Strategist Tracey Ryniec. Every week, Tracey will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life. To listen to the podcast, click here: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/2981443/how-to-invest-in-gold-stocks-and-etfs-right-now
How to Invest in Gold Stocks and ETFs Right Now
Welcome to Episode #498 of the Zacks Market Edge Podcast.
Every week, host and Zacks stock strategist, Tracey Ryniec, is joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds, and ETFs and how it impacts your life.
This week, Tracey went solo to re-visit the gold trade. Gold has been on a tear over the last year, gaining 37.1%.
Gold prices peaked at new all-time highs on Jan 29, 2026, around $5,589 per ounce. But over the last six months, it's taken a time out. The price slid to around $4,000 per ounce through the end of July.
But gold has staged a big comeback over the last month with August 2026 looking to be the best month for the yellow metal since 2008. Gold is up 14% over the last month, and year-to-date, is now up 7.4%.
Gold is trading around $4700 per ounce. However, that's well below the January 2026 all-time high of $5589.
Investing in Gold: Buying the Gold ETF or the Gold Miners?
There are three ways to invest in gold. Investors can buy the physical gold through jewelry, coins, and gold bars. Many investors have been buying gold jewelry and bars from Costco. For a brief period, Costco was even sold out of the gold bars.
You can also buy the physical gold through various gold ETFs that are benchmarked to the physical gold price.
Or you can buy the gold mining companies. These are the companies that own the actual mines and are getting the gold out of the ground.
For the purposes of this podcast, Tracey talked about the methods using ETFs and individual gold mining stocks.
Buying the Physical Gold ETFs
Wall Street has made it easy to own physical gold if you don't want to buy any from Costco. You can buy a gold ETF that is backed by physical gold.
SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD - Free Report)
SPDR Gold Shares ETF is the oldest of the gold ETFs that is backed by the physical metal. GLD launched on Nov 18, 2004, and gathered $1 billion in assets within just three trading days. It was the quickest launch of an ETF to $1 billion in assets up until that time.
GLD now has $130.3 billion in net assets. It has an expense ratio of 0.4%.
There's no dividend because investors are simply buying the physical gold.
Shares of GLD are up 148% over the last 5 years.
If you are looking simply to buy gold, and you don't want to bother with jewelry or gold bars, then the GLD is an easy way to get gold exposure.
Two Choices: The Gold Miner ETFs or Individual Gold Mining Stocks
A second way to get gold exposure is by buying the stocks of gold mining companies. Investors can achieve this by buying a basket of gold miners in an ETF or by buying individual gold mining company stocks.
1. VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX - Free Report)
The VanEck Gold Miners ETF is the oldest gold miner ETF. It was launched on May 16, 2006. GDX is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year.
GDX has 64 holdings with its two largest holdings being Agnico Eagle Mines at 10.77% of the ETF and Newmont which is 10.73%.
It has total net assets of $31.85 billion. GDX has an expense ratio of 0.51%.
The gold mining stocks have rallied big over the prior month, easily outperforming gold. GDX is up 37% over the last month. Year-to-date it is up 21%, easily outperforming gold which is up only 7.4%.
Because this ETF owns gold mining companies, many of which are paying dividends, it also pays a dividend, which is currently yielding 0.9%.
If you want to take the guesswork out of it when buying the gold miners, and just want to own a basket of companies, an ETF like VanEck Gold Miners ETF, should be on your short list.
2. Newmont Corp. (NEM - Free Report)
But you can also own the individual gold mining companies. Newmont is the world's largest gold mining company. It has a market cap of $138.7 billion.
In the second quarter of 2026, Newmont reported record second quarter free cash flow of $2.2 billion. It has been paying down debt with the cash but also has a $6 billion share repurchase program, of which $4.3 billion remained as of the end of Q2 2026. It also pays a dividend yielding 0.8%.
Newmont had a net cash position at the end of the second quarter of 2026 of $3.4 billion.
Shares of Newmont have soared in the last month as gold turned around. It's up 42.5% in the last 30 days. Year-to-date, Newmont is outperforming gold. It's up 33.4% compared to gold, which is up 7.4%.
Newmont is a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) as the analysts recently cut estimates due to higher costs. But Newmont is still expected to grow its earnings 30.8% this year.
The Zacks Rank is a short-term recommendation of 1 to 3 months.
Should gold investors consider owning a large cap gold miner like Newmont?
What Else Should You Know About How to Invest in Gold?
Tune into this week's podcast to find out.
Why Haven't You Looked at Zacks' Top Stocks?
Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.
Today you can access their live picks without cost or obligation.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.