Tariffs continue to be a wild card. Anxiety gripped the markets on Tuesday, pushing the price of gold past the $3,500 mark en route to a new all-time high.
The U.S. Supreme Court dazed markets by agreeing with a federal appeals court ruling that a majority of tariffs instituted by U.S. president Donald Trump were illegal. However, most expect a challenge to uphold them by the administration. As the legal back-and-forth on tariffs continue, investors scrambled towards safe haven assets like gold.
The market reaction is another reason to consider gold exposure via the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS), which allows investors to gain exposure to the rising price of gold with the option to exchange shares for actual bullion.
Countering Market Mania
Also in the market undercurrents, large cap growth names continue to build momentum behind the artificial intelligence theme. However, is there too much euphoria surrounding Magnificent Seven names? To hedge against an extreme market correction, gold miners could offer ballast for portfolios.
In a Sprott Gold Report “A Cure For Financial Dementia,” John Hathaway, senior portfolio manager at Sprott Asset Management, noted the similarities between today’s markets and previous market manias of the past: investment trusts in the 1920s, “Nifty Fifty” stocks in the 1970s, dot-com startups in the late 1990s, and mortgage-backed securities in 2007.
“The signs include extreme market concentration, leverage and delusional extrapolation of the benefits of whatever happens to be the current craze,” said Hathaway. He suggested that in today’s market, investors should consider healthy exposure to cash, gold bullion, and gold miners.
That strength in gold miners hasn’t waned as the end of summer draws closer. The NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index is now up almost 90% as mining companies continue to post strong earnings behind gold’s rally this year.
Source: YCharts as of 9/2/25.
A Mining Option
The Sprott Gold Miners ETF (SGDM) is worthy of consideration. It tracks the Solactive Gold Miners Custom Factors Index, providing exposure to large cap gold miners trading on Canadian and U.S. stock exchanges. The index selects constituents according to a rules-based methodology. It seeks companies exhibiting the highest revenue growth, free cash flow metrics, and the lowest long-term debt to equity. As such, only quality holdings make it into SGDM.
For more news, information, and strategy, visit the Gold & Silver Investing Content Hub.
Disclosures
As of 8/31/25, any individual companies discussed represent 0% holdings in either PHYS or SGDM. All holdings are subject to change.
Magnificent Seven is a group of seven dominant U.S. tech-related stocks—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Broadcom, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and NVIDIA—recognized for their outsized influence on market performance and innovation.
Nifty Fifty is an informal group of about fifty large-cap U.S. stocks in the 1960s–70s known for their strong growth, high valuations, and status as “buy-and-hold” blue-chip investments.
Solactive Gold Miners Custom Factors Index tracks large North American gold mining companies, emphasizing those with the highest revenue growth, free cash flow yield, and lowest long-term debt-to-equity ratios.
An investor should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses carefully before investing. To obtain a Prospectus, which contains this and other information, contact your financial professional or call 888.622.1813. Read the Prospectus carefully before investing, which can also be found by clicking one of the links below.
The Sprott Physical Gold Trust is generally exposed to multiple risks that have been both identified and described in the Prospectus. Please refer to the Prospectus for a description of these risks. This material must be preceded or accompanied by a prospectus. For an additional copy of the prospectus please visit https://sprott.com/investment-strategies/physical-bullion-trusts/gold/.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. One cannot invest directly in an index.
Gold and precious metals are referred to with terms of art like “store of value,” “safe haven” and “safe asset.” These terms should not be construed to guarantee any form of investment safety. While “safe” assets like gold, Treasuries, money market funds and cash generally do not carry a high risk of loss relative to other asset classes, any asset may lose value, which may involve the complete loss of invested principal.
Funds that emphasize investments in small/mid-cap companies will generally experience greater price volatility. Diversification does not eliminate the risk of investment losses. ETFs are considered to have continuous liquidity because they allow an individual to trade throughout the day. A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses, affect the Fund’s performance.
Sprott Asset Management USA, Inc. is the Investment Adviser to the ETFs. ALPS Distributors, Inc. is the Distributor for the ETFs and is a registered broker-dealer and FINRA Member. ALPS Distributors, Inc. is not affiliated with Sprott Asset Management USA, Inc. or VettaFi.
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs): SETM, LITP, URNM, URN, COPP, COPJ, NIKL, SGDM and SGDJ
Physical Bullion Funds: PHYS, PSLV, CEF, and SPPP
