Gold, Silver Mining Stocks Suffer With Safe-Haven Pullback

Gold has been rising months now, with investors loading up on the safe-haven asset amid mounting economic risks even as equities nabbed record highs left and right. The bill has finally come, with both gold and silver sharply lower this week, the former 8% off its Friday highs. In response, specialty mining stocks Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM) and First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG) are also feeling the pain. 

NEM is down 0.5% to trade at $85.91, off 8.2% in the last week after hitting a record high of $16.70 on Oct. 9. The pullback tested the shares' 40-day moving average today, an area that coincides with consolidation before the early October breakout. Year to date, the stock is up 130%.

AG, meanwhile, is down 2.1% to trade at $12.50, and has given back 16% in the past trading week. The shares are testing their 30-day trendline, but still boast a 127% year-to-date gain.

Short-term traders have been growing bearish on both equities. NEM's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.85 sits in the 70th percentile of annual readings. AG's SOIR of 0.67 sits in the 100th percentile of its annual range.