A Cliffhanger as the Yellen Era Ends

Janet Yellen, love or hate her policies, certainly will be remembered for being one of the more versatile Fed Chairs, probably through no fault of her own in terms of dealing with a changing global economic landscape compared to the Bernanke years. 

Either way, later this afternoon she will conduct her last policy meeting as head of the Federal Reserve.

On her way out, precious metals and miners are still sporting a bit of a cliffhanger, from a long-term perspective. Despite sharp rallies at the beginning of each of the last two years, precious metals and miners continue to take their sweet old time waiting to see if a new bull run is worthy of materializing. 

The crypto craze has surely stolen gold's high notes in recent quarters. But we ought not fall asleep at the switch regarding precious miners, as seen on the GDX ETF monthly chart, below.

Note how the senior gold miner ETF breached its prior 2008 crash lows only to then firmly recover them. The subsequent basing process has indeed been a tedious one, which bulls and bears alike claiming victory at various times to little avail. 

Ultimately, the directional break of this base should telegraph the next big move for the complex. To be sure, miners themselves seem to be a mixed bag, with some stalwarts like AUY versus glaring laggards like ABX--Hence, the cliffhanger. 

Still, if the Dollar continues to soften this year amid rising rates and a crypto mania unwind, attention is more likely than not to shift back to precious metals and miners after a long time in the wilderness.