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
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
New York Times (October 3)
“Markets are on edge about the risk of another oil shock. The price of crude has been relatively stable over the past year, apart from brief spikes.” Now, however, concern is focused on the potential “economic cost of a new war in the Middle East.” Estimates of the potential cost are wide-ranging and speculative, but “an escalation of fighting between Israel and Iran could cause oil prices to spike and send a chill through the global economy.”
Tags: Chill, Crude, Economic cost, Escalation, Fighting, Iran, Israel, Markets, Middle East, Oil prices, Oil shock, Risk, Speculative, Spikes, Stable, War
Australian Financial Review (July 17)
“Oil has begun to drop back down this week to pre-invasion levels as traders brace for a sharp drop-off in consumption. But food price inflation remains stubbornly high.” Nevertheless, food prices remain largely off the radar. “The dramatic spikes in oil and mineral prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have distracted investors from the long-lasting and more dangerous impact of food inflation.” This has led BlackRock founder Larry Fink to sound the alarm on food inflation which also has profound geopolitical impacts.
Tags: BlackRock, Consumption, Dangerous, Distracted, Drop-off, Food, Impact, Inflation, Invasion, Investors, Larry Fink, Mineral, Oil, Pre-invasion, Russia, Spikes, Traders, Ukraine
Institutional Investor (January 4)
Researchers have uncovered “striking evidence of pre-disclosure spikes in options trading.” They “investigated informed trading activity in equity options prior to firms’ cybersecurity breach disclosures. We found pervasive directional options activity, consistent with strategies that yield abnormal returns to investors with private information.” There is a clear “cost of disclosure, and delayed reporting of breaches creates informed trading opportunities.”
Tags: Breach, Cybersecurity, Equity, Evidence, Options, Options trading, Pre-disclosure, Researchers, Spikes
Washington Post (June 12)
“Every three days or so, the United States suffers as many deaths from covid-19 as lives were lost in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The pandemic is emphatically not over: Some places are experiencing new spikes in cases, positive test results, hospitalizations and deaths…. The country is now a crazy quilt of local responses, with the virus surging in places and flattening in others, but still on the march overall.”
Tags: COVID-19, Deaths, Hospitalizations, Pandemic, Sept. 11, Spikes, Surging, Terrorist attacks, Test results, U.S. Suffers
Washington Post (May 13)
As countries around the world “explore ways to end stay-at-home orders, countries that had already opened up are closing down again after renewed spikes in infections. Lebanon on Tuesday became the latest country to reimpose restrictions after experiencing a surge of infections, almost exactly two weeks after it appeared to contain the spread of the virus and began easing up.”
Tags: Closing down, Infections, Lebanon, Open up, Restrictions, Spikes, Spread, Stay-at-home, Surge, Virus
