By Nate Wolf
For a second this fall, it looked like the gold rally had hit a wall. Those fears didn't last very long.
Gold futures jumped 6.5% in November as stocks wobbled. Continuous contract prices now sit at $4,285.40 per troy ounce, just off the record-high of $4,359.40 reached on Oct. 20, per Dow Jones Market Data. Prices remain on track this year for their largest percentage gain since 1979, when the Iranian Revolution triggered an oil crisis and double-digit inflation.
Where gold prices go, mining stocks follow. Newmont, one of the world's largest miners, climbed 12% last month and is up 147% in 2025. U.S.-listed shares of Barrick Mining surged 27% in November and have now gained 167% this year.
In fact, miners such as Newmont and Barrick have emerged as something like a leveraged play on bullion in recent months -- skyrocketing when prices rise and tumbling when they pull back. It is uncharted territory for stocks tied to a commodity that is supposed to be a steady asset.
Some of gold's November comeback is down to increased odds the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates on Dec. 10, said Kyle Rodda, a senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.
Overall market sentiment "is being supported by the higher odds of an upcoming Fed cut, along with, to a lesser degree, the strong results still being served up by US corporates," Rodda wrote in a note Sunday. "The dynamic is also weakening the US Dollar and helping gold prices edge back towards record levels."
The November bounce has put miners in a position of strength. On Monday, Barrick announced it would explore an initial public offering of a subsidiary called NewCo, which would hold its premier North American gold assets.
The move would give shareholders more direct exposure to Barrick's gold mines in Nevada and the Dominican Republic. Barrick, which also mines copper and gold elsewhere in the world, intends to retain a significant controlling majority interest in NewCo, the company said.
Markets appeared to like the idea of a stand-alone spinoff. Barrick stock was up 4.4% in premarket trading Monday.
Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 01, 2025 08:34 ET (13:34 GMT)
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