While the major market averages languished in November, precious metals soared. The trend is evident in the list of the month's best-performing open-end stock mutual funds.
Nine of the 10 top-performing open-end stock mutual funds -- as calculated by TheStreet.com Ratings from Oct. 31 to Nov. 28 -- focused on precious metals investments.
In November, the spot price of silver rose 4.6% to $10.30 an ounce, platinum climbed 7.1% to $881.50, and gold gained 12.9% to $818.05. And as the Philadelphia Gold & Silver Index climbed 25.58% that month, the 150% leveraged ProFunds Precious Metals UltraSector ProFund (PMPIX Quote - Cramer on PMPIX - Stock Picks) made the most of the bounce in prices.
Index member standouts in the period were Agnico-Eagle Mines (AEM Quote - Cramer on AEM - Stock Picks), up 36.20%; Barrick Gold (ABX Quote - Cramer on ABX - Stock Picks), up 30.49%; and Goldcorp (GG Quote - Cramer on GG - Stock Picks); up 44.65%.
However, one non-metals fund topped the other nine metals funds. The Monteagle Informed Investor Growth Fund (MIIFX Quote - Cramer on MIIFX - Stock Picks) is a new fund with $6.96 billion in assets. The funds's 36.73% rise helped it to regain back much of its losses since its April 4 inception.
Four of Monteagle's five largest holdings are inverse, or short, exchange-traded funds that are 200% leveraged. They include ProShares UltraShort Oil & Gas (DUG Quote - Cramer on DUG - Stock Picks), ProShares UltraShort Russell2000 (TWN Quote - Cramer on TWN - Stock Picks), ProShares UltraShort QQQ (QID Quote - Cramer on QID - Stock Picks) and ProShares UltraShort S&P500 (SDS Quote - Cramer on SDS - Stock Picks).
On the bullish side of Monteagle's equation is a 40.6% allocation to biotechnology stocks, led by Myriad Genetics (MYGN Quote - Cramer on MYGN - Stock Picks), Genentech (DNA Quote - Cramer on DNA - Stock Picks) and Amgen (AMGN Quote - Cramer on AMGN - Stock Picks).
