ETF News

The strong, sustained performance of gold and silver, which made the precious metals the top-performing asset class in 2025, abruptly ended in January 2026. Following news on Friday, January 30th, that President Trump had nominated Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve Chair, the "dollar debasement trade" reversed sharply, resulting in significant drawdowns in silver and gold, as evidenced by the S&P GSCI Silver Index and S&P GSCI Gold Index, respectively. The former suffered its largest single-day decline, while the latter experienced a double-digit percentage slide.

Looking below the surface

While drawdowns are part of the investment experience, when they are sizable and sudden, they can highlight how exposed one may be to the impacted asset class. As mentioned in an article published late last year, most Canadian investors have ample exposure to gold miners through the S&P/TSX Composite Index’s approximately 20% allocation to the materials sector, which was the best-performing Canadian equity sector in 2025.

While many investors appreciated the benefits of the gold rally, the drawdown likely raised questions about how to mitigate a similar impact in the future. For investors who take a broad-market approach, equal-weight solutions would be useful, as they minimize concentration risk and provide greater exposure to small- and mid-cap stocks, which have higher growth potential. They also limit the harm a single tumbling stock (or sector) can cause. 

Looking at the performance of the S&P/Composite Equal Weight Index and the S&P/TSX 60 Equal Weight Index in January 2026, both indices outperformed their parent indices.

Taking an Equal Weight approach via ETF

For Canadian investors seeking an equal-weight investment solution focused on Canadian equities, the Invesco S&P/TSX 60 Equal Weight Index ETF (Ticker: EQLT) is a turnkey solution that replicates the S&P/TSX 60 Equal Weight Index, which has the same constituents as the capitalization-weighted S&P/TSX 60 Index. However, each company in the S&P/TSX 60 Equal Weight Index is allocated a fixed weight of 1.67% at each quarterly rebalancing. As of January 30th, 2026, the fund has a 16.63% allocation to the materials sector.

For investors who still have an interest in gaining or maintaining exposure to precious metals, ETF solutions such as the RBC Global Precious Metals Fund (Ticker: RGPM) offer turnkey exposure. RGPM is an actively managed solution that provides exposure to companies that are directly or indirectly involved in the exploration, mining and production of precious metals (gold, silver and platinum), as well as bullion, coins, receipts and certificates.

Please note this article is for information purposes only and does not in any way constitute investment advice. It is essential that you seek advice from a registered financial professional prior to making any investment decision