Gold Prices Can Keep Rallying, This Investing Pro Says. Here Are Her Picks.

John Maynard Keynes called the gold standard a barbarous relic, but the yellow metal recently has outshone far more modern assets.

The price of gold is up 15% this year to a recent $2,409, and has gained 22% since the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in March 2022, a move that typically batters bullion. That’s because higher bond yields present competition for gold, which has no yield.

Yet, gold’s unorthodox rally is just one anomaly of late in the metals market, says Imaru Casanova, a portfolio manager specializing in gold and precious metals at VanEck. The firm offers exposure to gold through exchange-traded funds including the VanEck Merk Gold Trust (ticker: OUNZ), which gives investors the option to take physical delivery of gold in exchange for shares; the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX); and the VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ). It also offers precious-metals mutual funds.

A native of Venezuela and a mechanical engineer by training, Casanova joined VanEck in 2011 and became a deputy portfolio manager in 2014. Last year, she took over as manager of the firm’s actively managed gold equity investment strategy, which includes the VanEck International Investors Gold fund (INIVX). The fund returned 9.7% in 2023, putting it in the top quartile of its equity precious-metals category, according to Morningstar, which currently ranks it four stars. This year, it is underperforming most peers, with a 5.24% total return.