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Articles by Mike Gleason
Gold’s Rebound… and Washington’s Gold Thief
Gold and silver are finding their footing again. And while the markets have been rattled lately, the financial problems driving investors toward precious metals haven’t gone away. Gold has recovered more than 1% today, climbing to around $4,200 an ounce. Silver is showing even more strength, jumping almost 3% to trade near $61.50. The dollar’s rally has stalled, and Treasury yields have declined for two consecutive sessions. That’s giving both metals some breathing room after a difficult stretch.
Treasury Tries to Tame Yields While China Buys Gold
Gold and silver are ending a choppy week with a reminder that the paper markets can change direction quickly. The larger story, though, is moving at a very different speed. While traders react to every shift in interest rates, the U.S. Treasury is trying to manage those rates, and China is taking delivery of an extraordinary amount of gold. Let’s start with the price action. Gold finished last week at about $4,390 an ounce, and silver closed near $67.
Gold Isn’t Following the Fed’s Script and a New Uptrend Looms
Well, so much for the idea that higher interest rates automatically mean lower gold and silver prices. The Federal Reserve raised rates this week for the first time in three years. And if you listened to the conventional Wall Street wisdom, you might have expected precious metals to get clobbered. They did take an initial hit. But then something interesting happened. They turned around.
Gold Slammed as Strong Jobs Report Revives Rate Hike Fears
Well, after precious metals appeared ready to finish the week on a strong note, a surprisingly strong U.S. employment report changed the picture on Friday morning. And once again, it all comes down to expectations about what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates. Gold and silver were getting slammed earlier this morning, with gold falling more than 2% following the release of the August jobs report – although it has since recovered somewhat.
Silver Touches $70 as Physical Gold Demand Strains Vault Capacity
Well, gold and silver markets are wrapping up an eventful week, with both maintaining somewhat of a bullish posture despite some hawkish signals from the Federal Reserve. Earlier in the week silver had surged through the psychologically important $70 level, trading above $71 at one point before pulling back sharply to below $68 currently. Silver has gained about 15% over the past month and about 75% from year-ago levels.
Gold Winning, Dollar Losing
Precious metals are finishing the week with some serious momentum, and the catalyst this time is coming straight from the U.S. Treasury market. Gold has surged back toward and even above the $4,600 level and is now up roughly 5% on the week, putting the yellow metal on track for a third consecutive weekly gain. Silver is participating in a big way as well, pushing through $69 and trading around the $70 level as we record.
Gold, Silver and a Growing Revolt Against Unsound Money
Gold and silver are finishing out another volatile week with both metals moving higher Friday morning, as investors digest softer inflation numbers, a weakening U.S. dollar, and growing evidence that the Federal Reserve may be able to stay on the sidelines. The big driver this week has been inflation. July's Consumer Price Index rose just 0.1 percent for the month, while the Producer Price Index came in flat.
Gold & Silver Surge — Is Platinum the Next Metal to Explode?
It turned out to be a pretty good week to own gold and silver. After a rough finish to July, the precious metals market got back on its feet this week. Gold clawed its way higher day after day, silver outperformed once again, and then Friday's weak U.S. jobs report poured gasoline on the rally. The week's biggest story wasn't really gold or silver. It was the growing realization that the U.S. economy may finally be slowing enough to force the Federal Reserve's hand.
Cracks Inside the Fed: Is It Good or Bad for Gold?
The Federal Reserve wrapped up its latest policy meeting this week by doing... well... nothing. At least on the surface. Officials voted to leave their benchmark interest rate unchanged, keeping it in a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. But if you look beyond the headline, this meeting may have been one of the most revealing we've seen in quite some time. Three members of the Federal Open Market Committee broke ranks and voted for another rate hike.
Fort Knox Gold: "Present and Accounted For"
Well, everyone can relax. Apparently, we don't need a Fort Knox gold audit after all. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently assured Fox News that the gold is "present and accounted for." Not that he's been there... and not that any compartments have been opened or audited for many years. But a couple of Bessent's own staff members said they've checked the schedule of vault compartment seals. So, everything must be totally fine. This is ridiculous.
Another Challenging Week for Gold and Silver Investors
It has been another challenging week for precious metals investors, with both gold and silver coming under heavy selling pressure as markets focused less on geopolitical turmoil and more on what that turmoil could mean for inflation and Federal Reserve policy. Normally, an escalating conflict in the Middle East would be expected to boost safe-haven demand. But that's not how markets have interpreted events this time around.
Is Asia About to Change the Gold Market Forever?
Gold and silver spent much of the week on the defensive, although both metals stabilized and recovered some ground late in the week. The selling pressure since late June wasn't driven by a collapse in safe-haven demand. Instead, it reflected a tug-of-war between geopolitical risk – which often benefits precious metals – and rising inflation expectations, which pushed investors to reassess the outlook for Federal Reserve policy. The latest catalyst came from a renewed escalation in the Middle East.
Not Worth a Continental: A Lesson for Today
Although we've seen a bounce in gold and silver over the last couple of days, the biggest driver behind the recent weakness has been the market's sudden shift in expectations surrounding the Federal Reserve. Just a few months ago, investors widely expected at least one more interest rate cut this year. Now, following a series of hawkish comments from new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh, many traders are betting the next move could actually be a rate hike.
Gold's Recent Selloff Is Testing Investor's Nerves.
Gold's recent selloff has certainly tested investors' nerves. On Wednesday, the yellow metal briefly fell below the $4,000-an-ounce mark, leaving prices roughly 28% below the all-time highs reached back in January. That's a painful correction by any measure, but history suggests it's far from unprecedented. Long-term gold investors have seen this movie before. During the great bull market of the 1970s, gold suffered a correction of roughly 45% before ultimately surging to new record highs by 1980.
Starmer Resigns: What Happens When You Consistently Betray Your Nation
June 22 brought exciting news from Britain, the nation that was once the cradle of America, then our enemy during the Revolution, and for generations our closest ally. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer finally resigned. Many expected it soon; few knew the precise date. Why does this resignation matter so much, not just to the United Kingdom, but to observers here in the United States? The answer is simple and sobering.
The Gold & Silver Market Just Got Spooked
Gold and silver are ending the week under significant pressure after a surprisingly strong U.S. jobs report fueled expectations that the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates elevated for longer than previously anticipated. The major market-moving event came Friday morning when the Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added approximately 172,000 jobs in May, nearly double economists' expectations.
CIA’s Mysterious “Black Budget” Gold Bar Scheme Blows Up
Well, it looks like we can add CIA clandestine operations to the list of uses for gold in this day and age. A former senior CIA official was just implicated in a scheme to apparently steal about $40 million in so-called "black budget" gold bars -- bars that he obtained from his U.S. government employer for unspecified “work-related expenses.” The ex-CIA official, David Rush, was arrested on May 19, a day after the FBI raided his home and found the allegedly misappropriated gold.
Policymakers See National Security Dangers in the U.S. Gold & Silver Market
U.S. Senators Jim Risch and Catherine Cortez Masto introduced the bipartisan “System Integrity through Licensed Vault Expansion and Resilience Act”, aka the SILVER Act, this week -- the latest step in the precious metals industry's efforts to derisk, modernize, and strengthen America’s precious metals market infrastructure.
Internal Fed Conflict Brews While Rates Remain Unchanged
Well, another Federal Reserve meeting came and went this week with no real action. And as usual, the big news centered around what Jerome Powell & Company said and didn’t say. For the third straight meeting, the FOMC held interest rates steady at between 3.5 and 3.75 percent. This comes as no surprise, given the uncertainty facing the economy as the conflict in Iran drags on. The official FOMC statement noted that inflation is elevated, in part reflecting the recent increase in global energy prices.
Congress Addresses Public Access To Gold And Silver
At yesterday's U.S. House Agriculture Committee oversight hearing, Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael Selig pledged to assist efforts of members of Congress who recently introduced the SILVER Act. This bill, introduced by Rep. Russ Fulcher of Idaho and Rep. Mark Harris of North Carolina, seeks to address longstanding geographic limitations which have blocked out most of the nation from the public markets for gold and silver.
Interest Rates & Stronger Dollar Create New Headwinds for Gold
After an initial safe-haven boost at the onset of the Iran war, gold corrected and has behaved more like a risk asset. However, HSBC analysts say the de-dollarization trend still makes the yellow metal a good long-term investment. As we've noted here before at Money Metals, wars in the modern era often do not have a major impact on the gold price beyond an early safe-haven bid.
Iran War Adds to Concerns About U.S. Government Solvency
Well, the U.S. government is insolvent. This isn’t hyperbole. In fact, you could call it an understatement. The Treasury Department recently released its consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2025. Uncle Sam ended the year with just over $6 trillion in total assets against nearly $48 trillion in total liabilities. For you non-accountants out there – that’s not good. To put it in simpler terms, the federal government has $7.90 in liabilities for every one dollar in assets.
Despite Recent Performance, Gold Still Expected To Climb
Despite gold’s weak performance in recent weeks, UBS still expects gold to gain 20 percent from its current price this year. Since the big selloff in January, gold has generally traded in a range between $4,600 and $5,200 an ounce. It got a little bump when the U.S. began military operations in Iran, but has since fallen to the lower end of that range, and even just below it here today.
What's Up With the Treasury Market… and Gold
Well, gold seems to be the last safe-haven standing. While one would expect U.S. Treasuries to get a boost from the geopolitical uncertainty inherent in a war, they have not. In fact, the 10-year Treasury yield has jumped from 3.96 percent the day before the U.S. and Israel launched their attack to 4.28 percent here this morning. The 30-year yield has taken a similar trajectory, nudging up from 4.63 percent on February 26th to 4.87 percent today. This indicates tepid demand for U.S. debt.
Gold & Silver Investors Who Just Do Nothing Have Been Winning
Well, don’t just do something; stand there! As backwards as that sounds, it turns out this might be a pretty good investment strategy. Research conducted by Dalbar, Fidelity, and Vanguard reveals that dead people tend to be better investors than the living. However, holders of gold and silver can also adopt the strategy a dead person would employ: doing absolutely nothing. Based on this research, the best investors aren’t necessarily the smartest people. They don’t have degrees in finance.
Jittery Stock Markets Leery of AI & Private Debt Market Blowup
U.S. stock investors have been jittery in recent days due to new warnings about a possible bubble burst relating to AI and also private credit markets. Swiss bank UBS recently published its worst-case scenario for defaults in the private credit sector, estimating that default rates could surge to 15 percent if AI triggers an “aggressive” disruption among corporate borrowers.
Big Banks Get Bullish on Gold, But Some Politicians Get Grabby
Well, another big bank has raised its gold forecast. This time, it’s JPMorgan expressing more bullish sentiment despite the recent correction, raising its 2026 gold forecast from $5,055 per ounce to $6,300. JPMorgan analysts note that the 11 percent correction late last month ranks alongside some of the largest down days in gold's history, including January 1980's 13 percent fall and the 12 percent slump in February 1983.
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Is China Preparing to Drop Hammer on Western Gold & Silver Market?
Well, it's been an incredibly volatile week in the gold and silver markets, with silver crashing all the way from its spike high of $120 late last week to below $70 last night. Gold has been a little different, peaking around $5,600 before pulling back under $5,000 again. Investors who are new to the metals may be finding this massive whipsawing to be a little unsettling, but these kinds of moves are not unusual on the heels of multi-decade breakouts.
Gold & Silver Extremely Volatile as Bullish Gold Calls Continue
Well, it's been a truly wild week for gold and silver, with the white metal taking a round trip from $100 to $120 and then all the way back down to $100 again and then even lower as I’m talking here now – down to under $90. Gold busted through $5,000, ran to almost $5,600 and then right back down to below $5,000 where it is now.
Gold and Silver: Crazy Start to 2026
For those who thought 2025 was crazy for gold and silver, 2026 is saying, “Hold my beer.” So far this year, we’ve seen silver reach for the skies and top $100 for the first time, a number that seemed like a fantasy...or fanatical... just a few weeks ago. And during that amazing run for silver, gold has been relatively well behaved, advancing steadily but in a less spectacular manner in comparison to silver -- which right now is more than triple the price it was trading at just one year ago.
Gold and Silver: Crazy Start to 2016
For those who thought 2025 was crazy for gold and silver, 2026 is saying, “Hold my beer.” So far this year, we’ve seen silver reach for the skies and top $100 for the first time here today, a number that seemed like a fantasy...or fanatical... just a few weeks ago.
Washington State Targets Savers with New Sales Tax on Gold and Silver, Effective January 1st, 2026
(OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON – January 1, 2026) – Washington state will begin penalizing citizens for protecting their savings in precious metals, imposing a sales tax on all new purchases effective January 1. While a number of states have ended state sales taxes on gold and silver purchases in recent years, Washington politicians decided to lash out against the public despite a growing affordability crisis, penalizing citizens who seek to insulate themselves financially.
Are Gold’s Gains Signaling a Dramatic Paradigm Shift?
Gold is up over a 110 percent since the beginning of 2024. Some analysts say that the yellow metal is in a bubble destined to pop. However, there is another possibility. What if the meteoric rise in the price of gold is signaling a paradigm shift? Conventional wisdom holds that when an asset swiftly rises in price, it is setting up for a fall. Every time the gold price falls, mainstream pundits declare the air is coming out of the bubble. And every time gold rallies again.
Gold & Silver Volatile on Fed Rate Moves, Interventions
The Federal Reserve announced another rate cut and another round of Quantitative Easing on Wednesday. The mainstream called this quarter-point reduction in interest rates “a hawkish cut.” We have to wonder if that’s akin to jumbo shrimp? Or government intelligence? And if this is hawkish, we wonder what will happen when the Fed people turn dovish! The CNBC report on the December Fed meeting was typical. It reported that the FOMC voted 9-3 to trim rates to a range between 3.5 and 3.75 percent.
Gold And Silver And The Entire Metals And Mining Sector Are Heading Higher Again This Week
Gold and silver — and in fact the entire metals and mining sector — are heading higher again this week, including here today on Black Friday. This isn’t surprising — precious metals have been outperforming every other market sector recently. Even during the near-panicked selling bouts in stocks this month, gold has refused to fall significantly further during this “correction” and has even posted some nice gains while the rest of the markets were falling apart.
Gold Is the New 20
Last month, Morgan Stanley CIO Michael Wilson suggested a seismic shift in investment strategy when he recommended a 20 percent allocation to gold. It appears investors are starting to take this advice to heart. As we’ve discussed here a couple of times, historically, the conventional wisdom on Wall Street was a 60/40 portfolio, with 60 percent of the holdings in equities and 40 percent in fixed-income investments, primarily bonds.
Tariff Rebate Checks, Dead Pennies, and a $3,200 Missed Chance
Well, it’s been a wild ride this week in the metals markets. Gold has been all over the place in a highly volatile week but is currently up about $100 since last Friday’s close to check in at $4,115 an ounce, good for a 2.5% weekly advance. Silver has seen even more wild swings. The white metal was white hot mid-week, having gained nearly $6 an ounce since last week’s close and pushing briefly back above the $54 level before retreating.
UBS Pounds Table: Buy the Dips in Gold!
Buy the dips in gold! That’s the recommendation of UBS analysts after the recent correction in the gold price. After peaking near $4,400 an ounce, gold was hammered lower, falling to below $4,000. Since then, the price seems to have consolidated around $4,000, but volatility continues to dominate the market with significant daily price swings. It’s important to put the recent sell-off in perspective, however.
After Pullback, “Paper Bugs” Pounce on Opportunity to Belittle Gold & Silver
Well, with the big selloff in gold and silver following a monster rally since Labor Day, a Saxo Bank analyst says the metals are no longer technically overbought, but they are still under-owned. After peaking near $4,400 an ounce earlier this week, gold got hammered lower on Tuesday and Wednesday, falling close to $4,000 before stabilizing at around $4,100 later in the week. Silver dropped even more substantially in percentage terms, plunging from over $54 to the $48 range.
Incredible Week In The Gold And Silver Markets
It's been an absolutely incredible week in the gold and silver markets, with U.S. retail demand skyrocketing as gold zoomed over $4,000 per ounce and silver broke out above its all-time $50 high. The momentum in these markets has been increasing -- and so have dislocations across the globe. As of this Friday late morning recording gold is up 5.0% or $200 to come in at $4,233, and that’s even after more than a $100 pullback here today.
Precious Metals Scream Higher as Wall Street Swaps Bonds for Gold
Gold surged above $4,000 per ounce this week on massive buying and momentum. The yellow metal is now up over 50% in 2025 -- thanks to currency debasement, geopolitical tensions, sustained central bank buying, Fed rate cuts, and now a new shift on Wall Street with investment houses swapping bonds for gold. This latest surge reflects a broader reallocation away from overvalued equities and a search for monetary stability.
Morgan Stanley Shifts: Will Wall Street FINALLY Stop Belittling Gold Investors?
Well, we may finally be seeing a sea change on Wall Street, with major investment house Morgan Stanley abandoning its long-held asset allocation strategy of 60% equities and 40% fixed income. According to Chief Investment Officer Mike Wilson, the firm now recommends a 60/20/20 mix, with the final 20% being allocated to gold. Better late than never, I suppose. But will other Wall Street firms follow suit, or will they continue misleading their customers regarding the safety of bonds?
Gold & Silver Blast Higher as Fed Gets Trapped
Silver is shooting higher again today – adding another dollar to its impressive gains over the past week. The white metal is now within short-range shooting distance of its all-time nominal high, as if there’s some kind of a magnet force drawing it towards that $50 mark. For the week silver is up a robust 7.3% now to come in at $46.46 an ounce as of this Friday morning recording.
Fed Cranks Up Inflation Machine
Well, the Federal Reserve cranked up the inflation machine this week, despite acknowledging inflation has moved up and remains elevated. The FOMC voted 11-1 to cut the federal funds rate by a quarter percent, setting the interest rate between 4 and 4.25 percent, and it projected two more cuts before the end of the year.
One Precious Metal Is Flying High, Yet No One Notices
Gold and silver continue to trade higher this week, receiving another boost on new geopolitical concerns and expected Fed rate cuts next week. Meanwhile, a district court temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's firing of Fed Governor Lisa Cook who stands accused of mortgage fraud. Against that backdrop, the market is virtually certain the Fed will be cutting rates next week – possibly even by 50 basis points.
Jerome Powell Gives “All-Clear” Signal for Gold & Silver to Rally
Well, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has given an "all-clear signal" for gold and silver to move higher with his remarks at Jackson Hole on Friday. It appears the Fed is now almost certain to resume its rate-cutting campaign in September. In reaction, the Federal Reserve note is moving down sharply in relation to other fiat currencies and precious metals are already buoyant.
$37 Trillion Debt Bomb: Why Gold Is Holding Strong and Mining Stocks Could Explode
Well, this week the U.S. national debt officially topped $37 trillion for the first time ever. You may recall the federal government ran up against the debt ceiling on January 1. As a result, the federal government couldn’t borrow any money until the enactment of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which raised the debt ceiling by $5 trillion as of July 1. At that time, the national debt stood at $36.2 trillion.
Weekly Gold, Silver, and Market Wrap
Well, Citibank just did a complete 180 on gold... and now forecasts new record highs before the end of the year. Just six weeks after lowering its forecast and warning that gold could drop below $3,000 before the end of the year, Citibank now projects gold will hit $3,500 an ounce over the next three months. That would put it in range to eclipse the record high hit in April. Citi also raised its expected gold trading range to $3,300 to $3,600, up from $3,100 to $3,500 previously.
Stagflation Keeps The Fed's Hands Tied As Trump Slings Insults
As widely expected, the Federal Reserve maintained its wait-and-see position, taking no interest rate action during the recent July FOMC meeting. However, there were some evident cracks in the committee as two members dissented from the majority decision. It was the first time multiple committee members opposed the majority since late 1993. Until at least September, the federal funds rate will remain set between 4.25% and 4.5%.
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