Efficient Frontier
Edited by William J. Bernstein
Dataquest of the Month
Does anybody out there have a reliable precious metals equity time series?
The price of gold, silver, and other precious metals going back decades is relatively easily obtained from a number of sources, such as the Federal Reserve Bank (FRED). More fragmentary longer term data (going back centuries) is also available (see, for example Global Investing by Gary Brinson and Roger Ibbotson).Most investors, large and small, make only limited use of metal coins and bars in their portfolios -- the most favored precious metals investment vehicles are mining company stocks and the mutual funds which invest in them. Aside from Morningstar's mutual fund database, which constitutes only a limited number of funds going back as far as 1976, I'm not aware of a time series for a reliable index of precious metals equities. Is anyone aware of reliable total return time series data for precious metals equity, preferably derived from COMPUSTAT or CRSP data?
If you are, please contact Efficient Frontier at wbern@mail.coos.or.us.
William J. Bernstein
wbern@mail.coos.or.us
copyright (c) 1996, William J. Bernstein