While the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE: DIA) and the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index (NYSE: SPY) are declining, securities in the natural resources are holding up well.  United States Natural Gas (NYSE: UNG), the exchange traded fund for the natural gas sector, is up for the last week, month, quarter, six months, and year of market action.  For 2014, UNG is up 24.41 percent (chart below).

It is much the same story for with SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD), the exchange traded fund for gold.

The GLD is up 9.31 percent for 2014.  SPDR Gold Shares has risen for the last week, quarter, and six months of market action.  Goldcorp. (NYSE: GG), the biggest gold company in the world, has risen nearly 12 percent for 2014.   Barrick Gold (NYSE: ABX), the second biggest gold entity in the world, is up nearly 5 percent for the last six months.

Small cap stocks in the industry such as Mondial Ventures (OTC: MNVN) in the oil and natural gas and Premium Exploration (OTC: PMMEF) in gold have great promise too due to the rising demand for natural resources.

This demand will continue to rise, especially in emerging market nations.  The bulk of economic growth and consumer demand in the decades ahead will be coming from China, India, Brazil, and other countries.  China and India and the two largest buyers of gold.  Each has the potential to be the biggest user of energy in the world, too.

Many previous articles on this site have gone into why natural resource securities are so appealing.

Those are being proven by how well the natural resources sector is doing as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index tumble.  This results in tremendous upside for securities in the sector, as the performance of the exchange traded funds, United States Natural Gas and SPDR Gold Shares, have shown.  There is also tremendous potential for growth from small caps such as Premium Exploration and Mondial Ventures.  The demand for natural resources should only increase, which means the share prices will, too.