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Allspring Precious Metals Fund
TICKER
ASSETS
EKWYX
$ 605.8 million
PERFORMANCE YTD 1 yr. 3 yr. 5 yr. 10 yr. 15 yr. 50.71 % 68.32 % 20.61 % 11.44 % 11.67 % 2.74 %
TOP 5 HOLDINGS
CONTACT INFO
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.; Newmont Corp.; Lundin Gold Inc.; Kinross Gold Corp.; Alamos Gold Inc.
866-701-2575 • allspringglobal. com
THE PRICE OF GOLD HAS GONE THROUGH LONG stretches of sideways movements or dips since 1970, according to the World Gold Council. Gold seemed to be in a coma from early 1983 through late 2005, and then it suffered a U-shaped depression from the third quarter of 2012 through the second quarter of 2020. For gold investors, it was like being on a sailing ship in the middle of the ocean when the wind died, the sails hung limp, and the boat went nowhere fast.
“ You think about periods when gold prices are going sideways and you wonder if it’ ll turnaround,” says Michael Bradshaw, co-portfolio manager at the Allspring Precious Metals Fund, which primarily invests in gold-related assets such as mining companies.
Well, the winds are blowing mighty fierce these days, and the ship carrying gold investors is at full sail and moving at a brisk pace thanks to a convergence of forces that have recently propelled gold prices significantly upward. Bradshaw and his co-
ALLOCATION BY ASSET CLASS( As a % of portfolio)
88 + 5 + 4 + 3
n Gold Mining Stocks 88.15 % n Gold Bullion 4.60 % n Silver Mining Stocks 3.82 % n Cash 3.43 %
Performance and asset numbers as of 5 / 7 / 25. Holdings as of 4 / 30 / 25. Asset allocation as of 3 / 31 / 25. Sources: Allspring Global Investments and Morningstar.
Cashing In On The Gold Rush
The Allspring Precious Metals Fund hit pay dirt during gold’ s recent rally. By Jeff Schlegel portfolio manager, Oleg Makhorine, caught these tailwinds and rode them well enough that both Lipper and Morningstar rated their fund as the top performer among precious metals equity funds during the past three-year period.
Bradshaw, the senior member of the team, took the fund’ s reins in 2007 and has navigated the vagaries of the gold market well enough to earn the fund a top-quartile rating in Morningstar’ s precious metals equity category in every measurable period during the past 15 years.
Gold Rally
Gold prices are nudged in different directions by inflation and deflation or fluctuations in the U. S. dollar— as well as by interest rate movements and geopolitical turmoil, among other factors.
Such forces caused gold spot prices to zoom roughly 85 % from early October 2023 through early May 2025, according to the World Gold Council. The initial spark came when the Feder-
JUNE 2025 | FINANCIAL ADVISOR MAGAZINE | 41