Market Watch (September 6)
“The U.S.’s status as a financial safe haven has begun to clash with President Trump’s growing barrage of economic and military threats to advance his agenda.” There seems be a common fear behind the Netherland’s recent withdrawal of reserve gold from the U.S., the drawdowns of France and Germany’s U.S.-based reserves, and a current plan in Norway to cut Treasury holdings. Basically, what’s to stop Trump from simply seizing their assets? His “sweeping tariff fight shocked the world last year. Then came the capture in January of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, February’s launch of the U.S.-Iran war, and plans in late August to control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil. In between, there’s been taunting of European and NATO allies, a campaign to takeover over Greenland and its natural resources and, lately, an escalating U.S.-Canada trade war.” So even if seizure sounds far-fetched, it is a legitimate risk for central banks to mitigate.
Tags: Allies, Assets, Barrage, Canada, Capture, Clash, Economic, Escalating, Europe, Fear, France, Germany, Gold, Greenland, Iran war, Maduro, Military threats, Nato, Netherlands, Norway, Reserves, Risk, Safe haven, Seizing, Seizure, Tariff, Taunting, Trade war, Treasury, Trump, U.S., Venezuela, Venezuelan oil, Withdrawal
BBC (September 2)
“The Dutch central bank (DNB) has confirmed that billions of dollars in gold has been taken out of north America and relocated to London, citing ‘increasing geopolitical unrest.’” In total, the DNB removed 86 tonnes of gold “from the US and Canada in a complex operation that took several months. It is now being held by the Bank of England, where the precious metal can be traded more easily ‘in a crisis situation.’”
Tags: 86 tonnes, Bank of England, Canada, Crisis situation, Dutch central bank, Geopolitical unrest, Gold, London, Precious metal, Relocated, Traded, U.S.
Washington Post (February 8)
China’s President Xi Jinping would like the renminbi to become a globally recognized reserve currency. He “seeks to capitalize on the dollar’s value slipping to a four-year low and gold recently hitting an all-time high amid uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, threats to Federal Reserve independence and myriad geopolitical crises.” However, China appears to be “in no position to achieve his vision absent self-sabotage by the United States and free market reforms he is hesitant to undertake.”
Tags: Capitalize, China, Dollar, Fed, Geopolitical crises, Gold, Independence, Renminbi, Reserve currency, Self-sabotage, Tariffs, Threats, Trump, U.S., Uncertainty, Vision, Xi
Reuters (December 5)
“Assets that rise rapidly above their long-term trend are usually set for a fall…. This year, gold has risen more than 60% in dollar terms, its best performance in 46 years. Adjusted for inflation, gold has never been more expensive. Either we are witnessing another bubble or it’s a paradigm shift.” It may be the latter as speculative euphoria has focused on cryptocurrencies while “central bankers have significantly increased their gold holdings.”
Tags: $60, Assets, Bubble, Central bankers, Cryptocurrencies, Dollar, Expensive, Fall, Gold, Holdings, Inflation, Paradigm shift, Performance, Speculative, Trend
The Atlantic (October 14)
“Last week, amid widespread geopolitical turmoil and a weakening U.S. dollar, the price of gold hit a historic high of $4,000 an ounce. This year has so far been gold’s best since 1979.” This is not a portend of a strong economy. Over the most recent half century, gold has proven to be a fairly effective “recession indicator” as “spikes in the price of gold have typically been correlated with widespread inflation and geopolitical dysfunction.”
Tags: 1979, Dysfunction, Economy, Geopolitical turmoil, Gold, High, Inflation, Price, Recession indicator, Spikes, Weakening U.S. dollar, Widespread
Fortune (September 3)
“As traders head into the final leg of 2025 they are not doing so with overconfidence. In fact, if this week’s bond market is anything to go by, they’re nervous.” Safe haven gold has hit record highs and a “global bond selloff” is creating concern over national debt. “The upset isn’t confined to America alone. In Europe, French government bonds…similarly spiked toward a 5% yield and sit at 4.49% at the time of writing, marking its highest run since 2009.” Arguably, the U.K. is getting hit hardest, “with 30-year gilts pushing above 5.7%, their highest level since the spring of 1998.”
Tags: 2025, Bond market, France, Gilts, Global bond selloff, Gold, National debt, Nervous, Overconfidence, Record highs, Safe haven, Traders, U.K., U.S.
Reuters (July 3)
“Big investors are mobilising to trade through weeks packed with wild-card events that may shatter the calm in stock markets and drive big swings for assets they see as exposed to both positive or negative surprises, from gold to corporate credit.”
Tags: Assets, Big swings, Calm, Corporate credit, Exposed, Gold, Investors, Negative, Positive, Shatter, Stock markets, Surprises, Trade, Wild-card events
Investment Week (April 26)
“The gold price – which is often seen as a measure of how anxious investors are feeling – has hit 25 record highs already this year, ranking 2025 third in terms of total of gold price spikes since 1968…. This means that in less than four months, investors have sought out ‘safety’ at a lightning-fast pace.” While some investors are cheered by the recent market respite, they should not pin “their investment case on the ‘hope’ that Trump reneges on his plans just because that seems like the sensible thing to do when we have been shown, repeatedly, that just because the market wants it, it does not mean it will be so.” Investors will likely “have to deal with four more years of paper-thin reliability when it comes to the US.”
Tags: Anxious, Deal, Gold, Investment, Investors, Lightning-fast, Market, Pace, Record highs, Reliability, Reneges, Safety, Sensible, Spikes
Time (March 15)
“Amid widespread economic turmoil, the price of gold has soared to levels never seen before,” with Gold futures exceeding $3,000 per troy ounce. Prices for this safe haven investment “are spiking higher now as U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have kicked off an international trade war that has roiled financial markets and threatened to reignite inflation for families and businesses alike.”
Tags: 000 oz t, 3%, Economic, Gold, Inflation, Investment, Markets, Price, Roiled, Safe haven, Soared, Spiking, Tariff policies, Trade war, Trump, Turmoil, U.S., Widespread
Wall Street Journal (December 12)
“Investors spent most of 2023 fretting about inflation and interest rates. Now they are snapping up everything from stocks and bonds to crypto and even gold.” Does the “simultaneous surge across assets” signal “the arrival of a lasting bull market” or is it “just a fleeting sugar high at the end of the Federal Reserve’s tightening cycle?” Opinions are divided.
Tags: 2023, Bonds, Bull market, Crypto, Cycle, Fed, Fleeting, Fretting, Gold, Inflation, Interest rates, Investors, Stocks, Surge, Tightening
