Golden Week for Precious Metals Funds

When the Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked 449 points Wednesday, the dive extended Monday's panic-driven, 504-point selloff. With all of the toppling of financial-firm dominos and volatility at its highest level since October 2002, frightened stock-sellers sought out the liquid investment of last resort -- gold.

The price of an ounce of gold shot up by $84, the largest one-day jump in 26 years, to $863.85, sending gold mining and bullion funds to extraordinary gains this week. Excluding inverse funds, the average precious metals fund tracked by TheStreet.com Ratings bounced back 12.3% in the five trading days ending Thursday, Sept. 18.

The largest moves in funds came from the PowerShares DB Gold Double Long ETN (DGP Quote - Cramer on DGP - Stock Picks), up 30.1%; PowerShares DB Gold Short ETN (DGZ Quote - Cramer on DGZ - Stock Picks), down 10.8%; and the PowerShares DB Gold Double Short ETN (DZZ Quote - Cramer on DZZ - Stock Picks), down 20%. These exchange-traded notes are tied to unsecured Deutsche Bank (DB Quote - Cramer on DB - Stock Picks) debt and the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Optimum Yield Gold Index that tracks gold futures contracts.

Leveraged 150% to the Dow Jones Precious Metals Index, the ProFunds Precious Metals UltraSector ProFund (PMPIX Quote - Cramer on PMPIX - Stock Picks) struck the mother lode, gaining 22% for the period.

Mining shares also helped Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX Quote - Cramer on GDX - Stock Picks) to dig up a total return of 21.3%. The largest members of the Amex Gold Miners Index held by the fund include Barrick Gold (ABX Quote - Cramer on ABX - Stock Picks), Goldcorp (GG Quote - Cramer on GG - Stock Picks), Newmont Mining (NEM Quote - Cramer on NEM - Stock Picks) and Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM Quote - Cramer on AEM - Stock Picks). However, performing better were Great Basin Gold (GBN Quote - Cramer on GBN - Stock Picks), up 49.7%; and Harmony Gold Mining (HMY Quote - Cramer on HMY - Stock Picks), up 42.2%.

If you are considering the bullion purchase of SPDR Gold Trust (GLD Quote - Cramer on GLD - Stock Picks) and the iShares Silver Trust (SLV Quote - Cramer on SLV - Stock Picks), up 13.3% and 15.2%, respectively, then take a look at the Central Fund of Canada (CEF Quote - Cramer on CEF - Stock Picks), a closed-end fund up 19.9%. The fund currently holds 55.6% gold bullion and 41.7% silver bullion.

Best-Performing Precious Metals Funds for the Week Ending Thursday, Sept. 18
Fund	Ticker	Rating	Fund Type	One-Week Total Return
PowerShares DB Gold Double Long ETN	DGP	U	ETN	30.06%
ProFunds Precious Metals UltraSector ProFund	PMPIX	C-	Open-End	22.04%
Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF	GDX	E+	ETF	21.28%
Van Eck International Investors Gold Fund	INIVX	C	Open-End	20.32%
Central Fund of Canada	CEF	B+	Closed-End	19.89%
American Century Global Gold Fund	BGEIX	C+	Open-End	18.91%
Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio	FSAGX	B-	Open-End	18.69%
Fidelity Advisor Gold Fund	FGDAX	C-	Open-End	18.64%
First Eagle Gold Fund	SGGDX	C+	Open-End	18.64%
iPath Dow Jones-AIG Precious Metals Sub-Index ETN	JJP	U	ETN	18.55%
Source: Bloomberg and TheStreet.com Ratings

Performing nearly as poorly as the funds shorting gold, the continuing slide of not-so-precious metals, nickel and aluminum, shaved 9.7% from the iPath Dow Jones-AIG Nickel Total Return Sub-Index ETN (JJN Quote - Cramer on JJN - Stock Picks) and 5.7% from the iPath Dow Jones-AIG Aluminum Total Return Sub-Index ETN (JJU Quote - Cramer on JJU - Stock Picks). The culprits in this metals-market meltdown? With nickel stockpiles at a four-year high, it's short-term oversupply as well as lower estimates of global economic growth and demand amid the turmoil.

A special word of caution about exchange-traded notes: these are unsecured debt obligations of financial institutions. These iPath ETNs are senior, unsubordinated debt of Barclays (BCS Quote - Cramer on BCS - Stock Picks), which on Wednesday took on additional risk and potential reward in purchasing the North American investment banking and capital markets business of the bankrupt Lehman Brothers.

Worst-Performing Precious Metals Funds for the Week Ending Thurs., Sept. 18
Fund	Ticker	Rating	Fund Type	One-Week Total Return
PowerShares DB Gold Double Short ETN	DZZ	U	ETN	-19.98%
PowerShares DB Gold Short ETN	DGZ	U	ETN	-10.81%
iPath Dow Jones-AIG Nickel Total Return Sub Index ETN	JJN	U	ETF	-9.73%
iPath Dow Jones-AIG Aluminum Total Return Sub-Index ETN	JJU	U	ETF	-5.73%
E-TRACS UBS Bloomberg CMCI Industrial Metals ETN	UBM	U	ETF	-4.03%
iPath Dow Jones-AIG Industrial Metals Total Return Sub-Index ETN	JJM	U	ETF	-3.48%
iPath Dow Jones-AIG Copper Total Return Sub Index ETN	JJC	U	ETF	-1.60%
ELEMENTS Rogers International Commodity Index - Metals	RJZ	U	ETF	-0.41%
Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining Fund	VGPMX	B	Open-End	0.65%
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF	XME	D-	ETF	1.23%
Source: Bloomberg and TheStreet.com Ratings

By Friday, hope returned to Wall Street and financial markets around the world in the form of a flood of liquidity from central banks and government promises to buy up massive quantities of the toxic securities plaguing financial institutions to avoid the need for more bailouts. Even if the plan works to save financial stocks, the resulting inflation may support the price of gold.

For more information, check out an explanation of our ratings.