Author: starbpo

With three weeks to go before the possible return of the Trump administration’s “reciprocal” tariffs that hammered markets in April, the chief economist for Goldman Sachs, Jan Hatzius, is predicting those elevated import taxes won’t actually come back. Hatzius said Wednesday that he and his colleagues are “not building in the second stage of the ‘reciprocal’ tariffs,” noting that those levies have been subject to a pause that’s due to end July 9. “We expect that to continue to be pushed out,” Hatzius said, referring to more time for negotiations with U.S. trading partners, rather than the White House sticking…

Vaibhav Agarwal, head of product and innovation at Indxx, was misspelled in an earlier version of this story. As supply of the commodity are predicted to fall short of demand for a third consecutive year, platinum has outperformed its metals counterparts for the month and year to far. However, that’s not the only factor contributing to platinum’s exceptional price performance. As of Wednesday, the price of gold had increased 29% so far this year. According to Vaibhav Agarwal, head of product and innovation at global index provider Indxx, this has caused some investors to switch to platinum, calling the change…

Even though geopolitical shocks have a way of upsetting financial markets, Ukraine’s surprise attack, which has been called “Russia’s Pearl Harbor,” caught the oil industry off guard and caused an unanticipated spike in crude prices that some analysts predict will be short-lived. The weekend that OPEC+ announced its decision to accelerate its output rise for the third consecutive month coincided with the price increase. According to the Wall Street Journal, several analysts had predicted that oil would decline following that ruling, but that was before Ukraine’s drone raids on Russian air force sites damaged or destroyed Russian bombers needed for…

Although the importance and expansion of the U.S. nuclear energy sector in domestic power generation are addressed by the four executive orders recently signed by President Donald Trump, the country will face significant challenges in supplying the uranium needed to quadruple nuclear energy capacity in 25 years. “The overall message from these orders is very positive for the overall nuclear sector,” stated Jonathan Hinze, president of UxC, a marketplace intelligence and analysis company that focuses on nuclear fuels. The need for baseload energy supply in the United States is evidently increasing, particularly from hyperscalers like massive data centers and other…

With the industrial metal finally making a big move to catch up to gold’s gains, silver surged Thursday to hit its highest price in over 13 years, bringing the gold-silver ratio down to its lowest level since the Trump administration’s “liberation day” tariff announcement. According to Dow Jones Market Data, silver for July delivery (SI00) (SIN25) closed Thursday on Comex at $35.81 an ounce, the highest most-active contract finish since February 28, 2012. This year, it has gained almost 22% so far. According to Maria Smirnova, senior portfolio manager and chief investment officer at Sprott Asset Management, “the breakout has…

Since Israel initiated attacks on Iran late last week, there have been a number of significant movements in the U.S. and worldwide benchmark oil prices. However, one indication helps investors understand how concerned they are about the possible breadth of the fight. As the Israel-Iran dispute grew more intense, President Donald Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” on Tuesday. In addition to calling for the evacuation of Tehran, a city of about 10 million people, he also raised concerns about potential U.S. actions to increase its level of engagement in the fight. “The market is pricing in a wide range of…

It’s that time of year again, when demand for natural gas is boosted by the need to cool down during the summer heat. However, there are other factors that increase the risk of limited supplies of the fuel, which makes natural gas even more alluring to investors following a nearly 10% decline in prices so far in the second quarter. “Not equally,” according to Henry Hoffman, co-portfolio manager of the Catalyst Energy Infrastructure Fund MLXIX, summer cooling demand, low U.S. storage levels, risks associated with the Atlantic hurricane season, and growth in LNG exports will all have an impact this…

After a successful week for Wall Street and ahead of fresh trade negotiations with China scheduled for Monday, U.S. stock futures fell on Sunday. On Sunday evening, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM00) fell about 60 points, or 0.1%. Nasdaq-100 futures (NQ00) and S&P 500 futures (ES00) fell by roughly 0.2%. In the meantime, gold (GC00) declined while front-month crude oil prices (CL.1) remained unchanged. The U.S. Dollar Index DXY, which measures the value of the US dollar against a basket of six competing currencies, also experienced a modest decline as Bitcoin (BTCUSD) dropped below $106,000. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson…

Although tensions between the United States and Iran have been increasing, significant fluctuations in the price of gold and oil can provide insight into how serious the situation has gotten and provide a preview of what the world’s financial markets may do next. According to John Caruso, senior market strategist at RJO Futures, “gold and oil are two of the most geopolitically sensitive market barometers we have.” As a result, they are the “first places I look when geopolitical risks arise in the Middle East.” And there’s no doubt that those hazards have been increasing. Iran announced on Thursday that…

According to a statement released by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “We struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear weaponization program.” “We went after Iran’s top nuclear scientists who were developing the Iranian bomb. Additionally, we targeted the core of Iran’s ballistic missile program. The operation, he continued, “will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.” The July delivery of the U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude (CLN25) (CL.1) reached a peak of $77.61, but more recently, it was up about 6% at slightly over $71. While key contracts were once again over their lows,…