From the highly respected Bill Cara:
"I wouldn't read anything into the fact that some precious metal miner prices are down a tad along with the Gold price that is also a bit off its all-time record high, in part because CME, the world's largest futures market, increased margin requirements on holding gold contracts. Simply, some capital that had been hedging the slaughter in the broad equity market by seeking safe haven in precious metals has returned to buying the broad market. In a couple days, the lagging PM's will catch up, traders moving assets from the metal contracts to the miners' stocks.
Remember what happened at the end of the last Bear in 2008-2009. Gold picked up first, then equities led by banks and goldminers until the bankers had to issue more stock (i.e., dilution) to increase their reserves, while the miners grew even more flush with cash from operations. By the summer of 2010, the prices of the goldmining exploration and development stocks started to soar based on results of drilling and resource expansion. That too will happen in this cycle."
