PHLX Gold/Silver Sector (XAU)

[NYBob]

The Best Small Cap Silver for 2007:
Pan American Silver? -

As fears of an inverted yield curve, a weakening dollar,
and an economic slowdown mount, commodities -
are getting more attention.

Why, you ask? Well, for one thing, the performance
of commodities in general, and precious metals
in particular, has historically had a low correlation
with the rest of the market, so the sector becomes
more appealing in down markets.

But precious metals have also done well
in the bull market of the past few years.
Consider, for instance, that the Vanguard
Precious Metals & Mining Fund has gained
36% per annum over the past five years
and the streetTRACKS Gold Shares
NYSE: GLD) ETF, which roughly tracks
the value of gold, is up 23% in the
past 52 weeks.

The S&P 500, by comparison, is up
roughly 6% per year over the past five years
and 14% in the past year.

Silver spoons
Silver-mining stocks, as a group, have done
particularly well -- up 49% in the
past 52 weeks.

Among this group are:

Company

YTD Performance*

Franklin Mining (FMNJ)
about 1000% -



Silver Standard Resources (Nasdaq: SSRI)
100%

Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL)
83%

Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW)
99%

Apex Silver Mines (AMEX: SIL)
7%

Coeur d'Alene Mines (NYSE: CDE)
34%

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