Gold’s growing downtrend has not endeared a lot of investors to the precious metals market, but apparently ‘The Donald’ is a fan of the yellow metal.

July 15, Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump submitted his financial statement to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), listing his assets and liabilities, and according to the information, he owns between $100,001 and $200,000 in gold.

Photo credit: Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com
Even more impressive his gold holdings were reported on page 36 of the 92 pages that made up his disclosure statement. What is interesting is that his holdings appear to be in physical gold — bullion — not shares of gold-backed exchange-traded funds, nor future’s contracts.

Of course, his gold holdings are miniscule to his overall wealth, which the FEC document puts at 1.35 billion (a total of his assets minus his liabilities). However, this figure is misleading as the FEC only asks for candidates to provide a dollar range with the top category being “over $50,000,000.”

In a press release following the filing of his financial statement Trump, in his bombastic fashion, said “The financial report is not designed for individuals with such a ‘massive wealth,’.…”

Bloomberg has calculated Trump’s wealth at around $2.4 billion while Forbes estimates it is around $4 billion. Trump himself has put his wealth at more than $10 billion dollars, saying higher property values around the world have increased his wealth.

Despite the actual amount of his net worth, the document shows an extremely diversified investment portfolio, which totals about $70 million dollars and includes a variety of blue-chip stocks: Apple, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Caterpillar, AT&T, JPMorgan Chase.

Trump also makes money off of his name as the documents show that he made $9.5 million in licensing deals, attaching his name to everything from energy drinks to vodka.

The statement also shows that Trump holds a position in more than 500 organizations, and more than half of them bear his name or initials.

News that China has announced an increase in its gold reserves for the first time in more than six years is getting mixed results among analysts, who add that they are not surprised that it is not having an impact on prices.

According to media reports, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) increased its gold reserves overnight by 57%. The central bank’s gold holding now sits at 1.658 tonnes, making it the fifth biggest gold reserve in the world, surpassing Russia.

The news comes after months of speculation and rumors that China has been quietly buying gold as prices have declined. However, the news does not appear to be impacting prices as analysts noted that the news is mostly backward looking.

“This news just tells us what has already happened,” said Julian Jessop, head of commodity research at Capital Economics. He added that given that it has been six years since China has updated its reserves, and given the significant drop in prices since 2011, it is surprising the bank has not bought more.

Jeff Christian, managing director at CMP Group, said that although its big news for the gold market, it could also be seen as extremely bearish as it shows that the central bank has bought 19 million ounces at some point within the last six years.

“It is a fairly substantial amount but you can look at it that even though they bought all this gold, prices still fell 30%,” he said. “If they can buy this much gold and prices still go down, it is just another reason to be bearish on the gold market.”

Jessica Fung, commodity analyst at BMO Capital Markets, also explained that although China has made a significant increase in its gold reserves, it is still only a small portion of its total foreign reserves. She wrote in a note to clients Friday, “ gold as a percentage of China’s central bank total reserves remains little changed at 1.66% (at April 2009, based on prevailing gold price of US$905/oz, gold holdings represented 1.53% of total reserves). “

Analysts at UBS said that market participants probably need time to digest the news as it is unclear if this is a new trend with China’s central bank. In its note to clients, the Swiss bank provided a translation of the PBOC’s announcement.

“Gold reserves have always been an important part of reserve management and diversification. Most central banks hold gold, including ourselves. Gold is a special asset, has the properties of financial and commodity products. Like other assets, it helps improve asset allocation of reserves and overall risk characteristics. Over the longer term and from a strategic perspective, [we will act] according to need, dynamic allocation of reserves and protection of international reserve security, liquidity and valuation protection/increase,” the PBOC said, as translated by UBS.

The analysts added that the statement is unclear as to whether or not China will continue to buy gold, or that it now deems its reserves sufficient. However, they added that because the central bank’s gold reserves are still just a small part of its reserves, they do expect to see more buying in the future.

“Gold’s proportion of China’s total reserves is still small at 1.6% and the diversification argument remains valid,” they said. “A slower pace of buying would be in line with our overall expectation for official sector gold activity up ahead.”

Fung also noted that there is a strong argument for China to continue purchasing gold.

“There remains speculation that China’s bank holdings of gold as a portion of total reserves needs to increase if China wants to unpeg its currency from the U.S. dollar. If this is the case, we may see a more regular release of gold holdings in China; otherwise we wait another six years for the next update,” she said.

Gold bugs are getting squished. Prices for the precious metal hit a five-year low on Monday, closing at $1,107 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its lowest level since March 2010. Prices fell for a number of reasons, including weaker-than-expected demand in China and expectations that the metal won’t make an attractive haven for investors in a rising interest rate environment.

Analysts as such as David Song, a currency strategist at DailyFX, and Robert Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management don’t expect prices to rebound anytime soon. But that’s fine with Keith Trauner, a co-founder of GoodHaven Capital Management, which has $500 million in assets under management. He has added to his position in Barrick Gold (ABX), a gold miner whose share price plummeted 16 percent today.

India’s love affair with gold
In an interview with CBS MoneyWatch, Trauner said the current negative sentiment around gold reminded him of when the yellow metal was out of favor on Wall Street during the late 1990s.

“People were giving up,” he said, adding that he considers himself a value investor rather than a “gold bug,” which refers to people overly enamored of gold. “Headlines were terrible. You started seeing cover stories talking about why gold will never rally again.”

Figuring out when that may happen, though, is the tricky part. According to the World Gold Council, a trade group, overall demand for the precious metal fell in the first quarter compared with a year ago. Here are three factors that could keep gold prices buried for quite a while ahead.

First, gold tends to be popular during periods of high inflation, which isn’t an issue these days for the world’s central bankers. Song noted: “As we look across the major industrialized economies, disinflation is the bigger story.”

A strong U.S. dollar and the Federal Reserve’s expected liftoff for interest rate hikes underscore that point even further and “remain negatives for gold,” according to Haworth. Added Song: “Demand will continue to wane this year maybe into next year.”

Second, there’s China, one of the metal’s largest buyers of the metal, where demand appears to be soft than widely assumed. Data from the People’s Bank of China cited by Reuters on Friday showed gold reserves had surged 57 percent to 1,658 tons ounces since 2009 (China rarely rarely updates information about its gold reserves), but that’s a lot less than some analysts had been expecting. The decline in China’s stock market hasn’t helped either. Meanwhile, demand in India, another major gold buyer, has also been lackluster because of the strong U.S. dollar.

Third, although gold has been considered a safe haven for investors during turbulent economic times, experts such as Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel argue that over the long run it has underperformed other asset classes such as stocks. Nonetheless, many investors own either physical gold or shares in gold miner’s stocks in their portfolio with one notable exception. Warren Buffett avoids the yellow metal because he says it “has no utility,” among other reasons.

However, noted Trauner: “The metal itself has had a role for thousands of years as kind of an alternative currency or restorer of value. The idea that that role completely disappeared in the last three … it’s probably unlikely.”

But when exactly gold will again be, well, as good as gold is anybody’s guess.

Gold gets the headlines, but don’t forget about silver — and here are three silver stocks you should watch

When it comes to precious metals, gold gets almost all of the headline action. But there are plenty of other important metals, like silver. Although silver is less expensive, it has long shared many of the same attributes as gold, most notably a store of wealth and use as a currency. For those open to looking at silver in addition to (or instead of) gold, here are three stocks to watch in silver, specifically in the mining of the metal: Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL), Pan American Silver Corp. (USA) (NASDAQ:PAAS), and Silver Wheaton Corp. (USA) (NYSE:SLW).

The domestic leader board
Hecla Mining, founded over 100 years ago, lays claim to being the largest silver producer in the United States. It produced roughly 11 million ounces of the metal in 2014 and expects to produce around 10.5 million ounces in 2015. Like all miners, commodity prices play a big role in top- and bottom-line results. So, 2011 was a big year for the company as commodity prices peaked, but as silver prices subsequently dropped so did Hecla’s top- and bottom-line results.

SILVER BARS. SOURCE: KEVINSPIRO, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

That said, the miner used the downturn to get better. For example, between 2013 and 2014, it was able to reduce its cash costs by 30% while at the same time increasing production by about 25%. Cash costs are essentially what it costs to get an ounce of silver out of the ground at an operating mine. Recently, its cash costs have been well below the price of silver at the time. Part of Hecla’s success has been focusing on cost containment, but it has also used the downturn to expand its reach. For example, in mid 2015 it acquired Revett Mining Company, a small silver miner working to open a mine that Hecla believes will supports its future production growth.

Bigger prey
Pan American Silver is larger than Hecla, but notably younger, starting life in the mid 1990s. However, it has quickly grown via acquisition and exploration to produce 26 million ounces in 2014 — up from, quite literally, nothing 20 years ago. It expects to produce around the same amount in 2015.

One of the big differences between the two miners, however, is costs. While Hecla has plenty of leeway because its cash costs are below $5 an ounce, Pan American’s cash costs in 2014 were around $11.50 an ounce. That leaves a lot less wiggle room for Pan American. Which helps explain why earnings fell deep into the red as silver prices fell. For example, it lost nearly $3 a share in 2013 and around $3.60 a share in 2014 after peaking at over $3.30 in 2011. Hecla, for comparison, turned a slight profit in 2014 and lost less than a dime a share in 2013.

MORE SILVER. SOURCE: ALCHEMIST-HP, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Avoiding the mine
No discussion of silver mining would be complete, however, without talking about the nonminer Silver Wheaton. This company actually provides up-front funding for miners in exchange for a piece of the mine’s future production, usually at a fixed low price. This is called streaming and it means Silver Wheaton gets silver without getting its hands dirty.

True, Silver Wheaton boarders on a finance company, but it still makes its money selling the silver it receives from its financing transactions (about 60% of revenues), and to a lesser extent gold. Note that both Pan American and Hecla also produce gold, but like Silver Wheaton, silver is their main focus.

This works out well for Silver Wheaton because it doesn’t have to deal with the ongoing costs of maintaining a mine, gets access to silver at an average cost of around $4 an ounce, and generates wide profit margins. For example, in 2011, a recent peak for commodity prices, Pan American and Hecla had operating margins of around 40% — but Silver Wheaton had an operating margin of over 75%.

It’s no wonder, then, that Silver Wheaton remained profitable despite weak commodity markets after the 2011 highs. In fact, in 2014 it’s operating margin was over 40%. It clearly has a lot more leeway to earn a profit during down markets and a lot more upside during good markets. So while Silver Wheaton isn’t exactly a miner, if you are looking at silver miners you’d be remiss not to keep it in the mix.

The other precious metal
Pork once called itself the other white meat to better compete with chicken in the retail space. I’m not sure what slogan silver would use, but it might go with “the other precious metal.” And while gold will likely always make the big headlines, you might find silver to be just as tasty even though it doesn’t get as much press. And that’s why Hecla, Pan American, and Silver Wheaton are key silver stocks to watch.

This $19 trillion industry could destroy the Internet
One bleeding-edge technology is about to put the World Wide Web to bed. And if you act quickly, you could be among the savvy investors who enjoy the profits from this stunning change. Experts are calling it the single largest business opportunity in the history of capitalism… The Economist is calling it “transformative”… But you’ll probably just call it “how I made my millions.” Don’t be too late to the party — click here for one stock to own when the Web goes dark.