Precious Metals News & Analysis - Gold News, Silver News from Money Metals Exchange

Fed Hits Pause Button; Announces New Meeting Format

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

The Fed hit the pause button at its October meeting despite https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/10/15/beyond-the-cpi-the-complete-inflation-story-september-2026-005295";>elevated inflation and gave little indication about what comes next.

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh also announced that the Fed will hold fewer rate-setting meetings in the future.

Fed Does Little, Says Less

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The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted 10-2 to maintain the federal funds rate in a range between 3.75 and 4 percent.

Lisa Cook and Beth Hammack dissented and voted for a quarter-point rate hike.

Markets widely anticipated the pause and were looking for hints about what the Fed might do at its December meeting. However, Warsh & Co. remained tight-lipped.

The https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20261028a.htm"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">official FOMC statement noted that “inflation remains elevated,” and suggested the committee wants more information to gauge the effect of September’s quarter-point hike.

“The accumulation of more information will help the Committee determine the policy stance appropriate to ensure a timely return of inflation to the Committee’s 2 percent goal. The Committee will deliver price stability.”

Warsh doubled down on this vague messaging at his press conference, once again asserting he doesn’t believe the central bank should provide “forward guidance” during normal times.

“I don’t believe in forward guidance, absent exigent circumstances, absent a crisis.”

He added a caveat.

“In the darkest days of the 2008 financial crisis, in part using some literature and thinking from a very recent Nobel Prize winner, that kind of forward guidance is actually quite helpful. But in normal, ordinary times, especially times where the underlying deal economy is this strong, I don’t believe in it. I don’t favor it.”

The Fed currently believes the economy is “expanding at a strong pace.”

Warsh said the FOMC will gather more information in the coming weeks before deciding whether it's necessary to resume rate hikes in December.

"The period right in front of us is information rich. There's a lot happening in the world. My colleagues and I are keen to take notice of it." Warsh said, adding that they will determine "the appropriate protocol" in the weeks ahead.

Reaction to the Fed’s Non-Move

It remains unclear why the Fed put rate hikes on pause. CPI has been above the mythical 2 percent target for 67 consecutive months. Core CPI rose by 0.3 percent last month.

DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffery Gundlach told CNBC he thinks the central bank should be hiking based on the current bond market, noting that the 2-year Treasury is at 4.75 percent, and Warsh just said the economy is strong.

“What are you waiting for? You just upgraded the economy right here.”

Some pundits speculate the Fed paused rate hikes to support the stock market in the days leading up to the midterm elections. Warsh insisted that was not the case.

“I just spent two days with my colleagues upstairs. I didn’t hear an utterance about politics. I didn’t hear a reference to politics, elections, what’s happening in the next week or so. Didn’t hear anything about it, and I don’t believe it had any role in the decision, not just for me, but my colleagues around the room."

We’ll never know if political considerations drove the decision, but there are $40 trillion good reasons to hold rates steady despite elevated price inflation.

Of course, I’m referring to the https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/08/20/the-40-trillion-national-debt-in-perspective-005151";>national debt. And that’s just one part of the massive https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2025/11/15/debt-black-hole-putting-increasing-stress-on-american-consumers-004483";>debt black hole dominating the U.S. economy. Debt-riddled economies don’t function well in a high-interest-rate environment.

This is https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/03/19/gold-the-federal-reserve-and-a-catch-22-004773";>the Catch-22 the central bank has faced for months, and there’s still no easy way out. It needs to cut rates to support the debt bubble, and it needs to raise rates to slay price inflation. It can’t do both, and a pause makes sense in this context.

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New Meeting Format

The biggest news coming out of the October Fed gathering was the announcement of a new meeting schedule beginning next year.

Warsh said the FOMC will still meet eight times a year, calling it “the right number for the FOMC.”

However, one meeting next year will focus solely on strategy, and the committee will not make a rate-setting announcement. In 2028, the FOMC will move to two strategy sessions and six rate-setting meetings.

Warsh called the reason for the change “straightforward.”

“Getting policy right involves assessing near-term developments at timely, regular, and information-rich intervals. But it’s equally important we reserve time and space as an intellectually diverse group for strategic deliberations, for thinking anew about big questions, looking out over longer time horizons, focusing, as I say, on the left side of the decimal point.”

Warsh said changing the meeting format is “more than some administrative detail.”

“It’s an institutional choice, affecting the nature and the quality of our deliberations, and ultimately the wisdom of our decisions. It’s yet another change to get the conduct of monetary policy on the right track.”

AI Cybersecurity Risks, Physical Gold and Silver, and Gold’s Value

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

In this episode of the Money Metals Midweek Memo, host Mike Maharrey considers how artificial intelligence could affect trust, cybersecurity, and investors’ access to their money. He also discusses silver’s sharp correction, the long history of gold jewelry, and ways listeners might use precious metals as a physical store of value.

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AI Deepfakes and Public Trust

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Maharrey opens with a cautionary example. A story about a tiger supposedly calling for help when its keeper had a medical emergency came with images that appeared to be surveillance photos, but the story was fabricated with AI. Maharrey says he believed it until his wife noticed inconsistencies between the pictures.

He argues that increasingly convincing AI-generated images and video could make people less sure of what they see. In a climate where some people already dismiss unwelcome evidence as “fake news,” he wonders how AI might further weaken confidence in institutions, media, and even money.

Maharrey sums up the concern with a question. “What happens when you can’t tell anymore?” He suggests that the uncertainty could encourage people to value face-to-face interaction, local community, and physical media.

AI Cyberattacks and Bank Security

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Maharrey turns to what some in technology circles called “Black October,” describing a surge in reported cybersecurity vulnerabilities and attacks. Google Threat Intelligence reported that monthly vulnerability disclosures rose from 5,045 in January to 10,740 in August.

He cites technology commentator John Molinovich, who described dozens of attacks over a two-day period and said that government, education, technology, and banking were affected. Molinovich warned that powerful AI models can work around the clock and be deployed in large numbers. “They can work 24/7, and you can spin up 10,000 of them with a single command,” he wrote.

Maharrey notes that U.S. banks have reported customers giving personal AI agents access to financial accounts. Some agents reportedly contacted customer service or filed complaints without the account holder’s authorization. White House AI czar David Sacks said that much of the activity involved customers sharing credentials with agents to act on their behalf. Maharrey argues that even authorized access deserves caution, given the possibility that AI agents may take actions their users did not intend.

Physical Gold as Cyber Risk Protection

The episode connects cyber threats to counterparty risk, the possibility that another party in a transaction will fail to meet its obligations. When funds sit in a bank account, or an asset is held digitally, Maharrey says, the owner depends on institutions, networks, and power systems to access it.

He is not opposed to Bitcoin, saying he owns it and sees potential in blockchain technology. But he points out that digital assets require electricity and internet access, both of which could be disrupted by https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2025/03/12/why-bitcoin-is-not-equal-to-gold-003904";>cyberattacks, government action, or natural disasters. He uses hurricanes as an example of how a prolonged power outage could make it difficult to use a computer, charge a phone, or reach an ATM.

Maharrey recommends holding some physical gold or silver as a backup, while also taking basic https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/10/26/ai-security-you-cant-hack-physical-gold-and-silver-005319";>steps to protect digital accounts.

“Gold and silver in your safe cannot be hacked,” he says. “They cannot be turned off.”

He also points to Russia’s use of its gold reserves amid limited access to the dollar system as an example of how hard assets can matter when financial access is constrained.

Silver Price Correction and Bull Market

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Maharrey says silver had surged to just https://www.moneymetals.com/silver-price";>over $120 an ounce in January before losing more than half its value. At the time of the episode, it was holding above $50. The Federal Reserve was expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its meeting, though investors were watching closely for forward guidance.

Citing technical analyst Jesse Colombo, Maharrey says many investors only began paying attention to silver near its peak, around $121, and lost interest after the correction. Colombo observed that many had little interest when the https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/10/22/the-bull-market-isnt-over-silver-setting-up-for-next-leg-higher-005311";>bull market began in early 2024, while silver was still trading in the $20s.

Colombo believes investors may be overlooking the possibility of another strong move higher. “This is the time to be paying close attention and accumulating while it is still quite cheap,” he wrote. Maharrey says Colombo’s technical case is laid out in a separate article with charts.

Gold Jewelry and Its 6,500-Year History

The episode also explores gold as a gift and a durable store of value. Maharrey describes a child’s grave in a Roman cemetery in Bulgaria, where archaeologists found https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/10/23/ancient-gold-earrings-discovered-in-roman-cemetery-005314";>well-preserved gold earrings and a small bronze coin. The cemetery, with approximately 135 graves, dates to around 275 CE.

The area near the Black Sea was annexed by Rome in 46 CE, and the city now known as Stara Zagora was renamed Augusta Traiana in honor of Emperor Trajan. Maharrey says the city eventually received permission to operate its own mint. He compares the earrings with gold jewelry found in Bulgaria in the early 1970s, dating from 4,600 to 4,300 BCE, roughly 6,500 years old.

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Maharrey notes that jewelry accounted for about one-third of gold demand in 2025, with demand totaling 1,542 tons. Gold’s durability and resistance to decay help explain its long history as both adornment and money. As Maharrey puts it, “Gold is gold basically forever.”

Money Metals Gold and Silver Offers

Maharrey highlights a Money Metals offer for https://www.moneymetals.com/1-oz-american-silver-eagle-random-year/262";>random-year American Silver Eagle coins at a premium of $5.97. Each coin contains one troy ounce of .999 fine silver, or 99.9% pure silver. “They’re easy to sell, they’re easy to use and barter,” he says of Silver Eagles.

He also mentions gold and silver jewelry, gold coins, and a monthly installment plan starting at $100. Listeners can contact Money Metals at 800-800-1865, order online, or arrange storage at the company’s bullion depository in Eagle, Idaho.

Can't Hack This! Gold & Silver in a Digital Age

Wed, 28 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

Some people in tech circles are calling it Black October.

AI has reached the point where it can blast through cybersecurity defenses that were once considered unbreachable.

That means virtually anything digital can be hacked – including your bank account.

But no matter how sophisticated your AI bot, you can't hack gold or silver.

In this episode of the Midweek Memo podcast, host Mike Maharrey explains the growing risk of AI hacking and how to protect yourself.

And as the holiday season approaches, Mike suggests a great gift that will stand the test of time, inspired by an amazing find in Bulgaria.

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"Seeing is believing. A picture’s worth 1,000 words. Show me, don’t tell me!"

Mike notes that this common-sense wisdom is starting to make less sense.

"In the age of AI, you can’t believe everything that you see. AI photos and video are getting to the point that it’s difficult to tell they’re fake. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned a story about a tiger calling for help when his keeper had a medical emergency. The story was complete with photos from a surveillance camera. But the photos were fake. And the story was made up. And you know what? It fooled me."

Mike points out that AI has advanced significantly in a very short period of time.

"It was long ago that AI images were mocked because they couldn’t even get the right number of fingers on a hand. And now I’m paranoid! I find myself scrutinizing every video and photo I run across, trying to determine if it’s real. What happens when we can’t tell anymore?"

Mike says AI seems to be eroding our confidence in reality, with significant ramifications.

"I’ll give you an example. What gives the dollar its value? We’re told it is backed by the “full faith and credit of the federal government.” What happens when there is no longer “full faith?” I mean, there shouldn’t be, because the government is intentionally wrecking your money. But still, you see what I’m driving at here, right? And it’s not just the dollar. People have lost faith in everything. I have people tell me they don’t bother to buy gold because 'it’s just manipulated anyway.'”

Mike notes that there have been some pretty wild developments in the AI realm over the last few weeks. Some people in tech circles are calling it "Black October."

"AI has reached the point where it can blast through cybersecurity defenses that were once considered unbreachable. That means virtually anything digital can be hacked – including your bank account.

"Do you know what can’t be hacked?

"Physical gold and silver."

Over the last few weeks, cyberthreat reports have gone parabolic.

https://www.moneymetals.com/uploads/content/cve-tracker.jpeg"; width="500" height="298" class="mx-auto p-3" alt="" />Mike quotes a techie on X who summed up what's going on.

“We're 48 hours into what is being called Black October. In the last 2 days there have been several dozen cyberattacks which, in isolation, would each have been the worst to happen in an entire calendar year. Every sector, from government to education to big tech and banks, is being massively affected, and people are starting to freak out.”

Several banks have reported AI agents working within customer accounts, some of which appear to be taking unauthorized actions.

The issue is that AI agents have become nearly as good as the most sophisticated programmers. But there's a big difference. AI bots don't sleep, and you can link 10,000 together with a single command. As our techie on X put it, "They'll work together tirelessly until they accomplish their task."

Mike notes that most people assume their money is "safe" in the bank.

"Is it, though? The bank introduces significant counterparty risk. Simply put, you have no control over your funds when they are in the bank. Hackers do. With a sophisticated AI tool, hackers could access your savings account and drain it completely. They cannot 'drain' the silver coin I’m holding in my hand."

Mike said that even absent hacking threats, it's still unwise to hold all your assets in digital form.

"Consider what would happen if a major storm took out the electrical grid in your area. How would you access your money or do business if you can’t even fire up your computer or charge your phone? We take the digital world for granted, but it wouldn’t take much to send us back to the proverbial Stone Age. It’s wise to be prepared. Hold some physical gold or silver as insurance."

Mike offers some suggestions to help mitigate the risk.

"Use long, difficult passwords and change them frequently. Turn on two-factor authentication. And beware of giving AI bots access to sensitive accounts. Most importantly, keep at least one toe in the physical world. Keep assets you can hold in your hand. Gold and silver in your safe can’t be hacked, and they can’t be 'turned off.'”

Mike then pivots to silver, noting that many people have turned bearish. However, technical analyst Jesse Colombo thinks we're just in a consolidation phase, and the next leg of the bull run is right around the corner.

"Colombo has some pretty compelling technical analysis to back up this claim. I summarized it in an article over at MoneyMetals.com/news. I’m not going to try to go through it all here because there are a lot of visuals. I’ll link to the article in the show notes for you to check out."

Mike then proclaims he recently received his Walmart gift catalogue in the mail.

"It reminded me that the holidays are right around the corner. Heck, they’ll be playing Christmas music next week. So, I guess it’s time to start thinking about gift-giving, eh? Want a gift that stands the test of time?

"Get gold!"

Mike suggests gold stud earrings.

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"They are beautiful, classic, and will last, well, forever! Or at least a really long time.

"How long have people been getting gold earrings as gifts?

"At least 1,700 years!"

"At a site in Bulgaria, archaeologists unearthed a child’s grave. Among the bones, they discovered 'stunningly preserved' gold earrings."

Mike notes that the earrings look just like they came out of a case at Kay Jewelers.

"This is a testament to gold's durability."

Mike points out that gold also serves as money for many of the same reasons we value it as jewelry.

"It is durable, malleable, and it doesn’t decay, corrode, or degrade. Gold is gold – forever."

And its value is recognized worldwide.

"From skyscrapers in Manhattan to tents in the Sahara, people value gold. And of course, gold is beautiful. That’s why people have been adorning their bodies with it for more than 6,000 years. I’m pretty certain your loved one would be thrilled to get some gold this holiday season. Something to consider as you plan your holiday gift-giving!"

Mike ends the show with a call to action -- call 800-800-1865 and talk with a Money Metals precious metals specialist today.

Articles Mentioned in the Show

https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2024/02/29/buy-gold-and-silver-to-hedge-against-counterparty-risk-003015";>Buy Gold and Silver to Hedge Against Counterparty Risk

https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/10/26/russian-gold-reserves-down-62-tonnes-this-year-as-they-support-the-wartime-economy-005318";>Russian Gold Reserves Down 62 Tonnes This Year as They Support the Wartime Economy

https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/10/22/the-bull-market-isnt-over-silver-setting-up-for-next-leg-higher-005311";>The Bull Market Isn't Over: Silver Setting Up for Next Leg Higher

The Lesson of 1971 Was Never About Gold

Wed, 28 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

On August 15, 1971, Richard Nixon interrupted Sunday-night television to announce https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2024/06/28/what-in-the-world-happened-in-1971-003286";>the New Economic Policy. With the Vietnam War winding down, Nixon argued that the economy required federal action to deliver what he called “a new prosperity without war.” Nixon declared that night, “We must create more and better jobs; we must stop the rise in the cost of living; we must protect the dollar from the attacks of international money speculators.”

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His policy froze wages and prices for 90 days and thawed a restraint on Washington’s management of money by suspending gold convertibility for foreign governments and central banks.

One policy froze the prices Americans could charge one another. The other released the government from the rule that forced it to redeem its monetary promises. Both followed the same instinct: when the signal becomes inconvenient, suppress it and escape the discipline it imposes.

Nixon called the suspension temporary. It was not.

Broken Promises

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Friedrich Hayek had named the vulnerability 28 years before Nixon acted. Writing in 1943, in an essay later collected in https://mises.org/library/book/individualism-and-economic-order"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Individualism and Economic Order, he granted that “the gold standard as we knew it undoubtedly had some grave defects.” Gold arrived too slowly to track real demand for money, producing deflation before new supply arrived and excess once it did.

But the defects were not the point.

Gold gave the world an international currency answerable to no single government, a monetary policy that was largely automatic and therefore predictable, and money supply adjustments that generally moved in the right direction.

Hayek’s answer was not managerial discretion but a better rule: a currency anchored to a broad basket of commodities rather than one metal, governed automatically, and explicitly not a license to freeze any individual price along the way.

Seventeen years later, in December 1960, economist Robert Triffin told the Joint Economic Committee that the system carried the seeds of its own collapse. The world needed dollars abroad, pushed out by military spending, foreign aid, and capital outflows. Every dollar that left made it less plausible that the United States could redeem them all in gold at $35 an ounce.

Later that decade, the dominoes began to fall. The London Gold Pool, a coalition of central banks trying to defend that price through coordinated selling, collapsed in 1968. Across the English Channel, France spent the back half of the decade https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2024/10/05/why-france-repatriated-3313-tonnes-from-new-york-and-london-in-the-1960s-003516";>converting its dollar holdings into gold, at one point sending a warship to New York to collect the gold. American gold reserves peaked in 1949 at 21,708 metric tons. That August night when Nixon spoke, they stood at 9,069, a fall of some 58 percent.

Treasury Secretary John Connally had been arguing for months that the old policy of benign neglect toward the dollar’s slide had run its course, and Nixon agreed. Meeting with Nixon two weeks before the announcement, Connally predicted, “We may never go back to it. I suspect we never will.”

Nixon called the move a defense of the dollar and an attack on speculators. It was, in function if not in name, the opposite: a default, dressed in the language of a temporary suspension. Bretton Woods ended in all but name by 1973, and the dollar has floated on nothing but promises ever since. What replaced the rule was the discretion of whoever held the job next.

By the fall of 1971, with an election about a year out, Nixon was leaning on Arthur Burns, his own appointee to chair the Federal Reserve, to keep money loose. Burns obliged. Tapes declassified decades later show a Fed chairman reporting rate cuts to the president like a subordinate delivering good news, and a money supply that grew faster in 1972 than in either of the two preceding years.

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Nixon won in a landslide. The country spent the rest of the decade paying for it, in double-digit inflation and stagflation.

The real lesson of 1971 was never about gold. It was about what happens when the person guarding the currency answers to the person spending it.

The Same Test, 55 Years Later

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Since 1971, the Fed’s independence has been questioned many times. Donald Trump had no gold window to close, so he went after the guard instead, a guard he had appointed himself in his first term.

Jerome Powell spent most of 2025 as the public target of a president demanding lower interest rates. When Powell refused to bend, a Justice Department criminal investigation opened into cost overruns at the Fed’s building renovation.

Trump also moved against the Board itself. He attempted to fire Governor Lisa Cook in August 2025, the first such attempt in the Fed’s 111-year history.

In a video statement, Powell warned of the pressure the Fed was under. He stated, “The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.”

The Department closed the investigation in April 2026, handing what remained to the Fed’s own inspector general. Two months later, the Supreme Court blocked Trump’s first attempt to fire Lisa Cook by a single vote, 5-4, on the same day it affirmed Trump’s firing of an FTC commissioner.

Powell’s term as chair ended in May but, for the first time since 1948, the former chair stayed on the Board as an ordinary governor. His replacement, Kevin Warsh, walked into the job promising independence and a hard line on inflation. He arrived with his own ties to the White House. His father-in-law, Ronald Lauder, has been one of Trump’s closest friends since Wharton; he is credited with reigniting the Greenland debate and gave $5 million to a pro-Trump super PAC.

Warsh, to his credit, held the line. Two meetings in, he has held rates at 3.50 to 3.75 percent against a president who is pushing for cuts. Three regional Fed presidents, Beth Hammack, Neel Kashkari, and Lorie Logan, dissented anyway, arguing for a hike in an attempt to temper inflation sooner.

AIER’s own Monetary Rules Report found 11 of 12 standard rules pointing higher than where Warsh has held; the original Taylor rule prescribes the highest target rate, at 5.91 percent. Warsh is refusing the president’s cuts and still sitting more than two points below what that rule would require. Resisting pressure is not the same as following a rule.

But Burns did not cave in his first two meetings either. He caved in year two, once the approaching 1972 election made Nixon want loose money badly enough to ask for it outright. That incentive is forming again, on a shorter clock. Trump is not on the ballot in November, but his majority is, and since 1934 the president’s party has lost an average of 28 House seats during the midterms. A soft economy heading into them is exactly the condition that makes a president want lower rates.

That is the institutional danger Hayek saw. His objection to discretion was not that every manager would use it badly. It was that a system governed by judgment leaves the currency exposed to a president who wants something from it. Hayek’s point was that the currency should not have to depend on either.

Originally Published on https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-lesson-of-1971-was-never-about-gold/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">AIER's The Daily Economy.

How Could the Midterm Elections Impact the Gold Market?

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

The midterm elections are fast approaching, and Democrats are widely expected to make significant gains.

How might this impact the gold market?

If history is any indication, it will all depend on how the shift impacts policy.

Prediction markets expect the Democrats to take both the House and the Senate in the midterms. This would significantly hinder President Trump’s legislative agenda.

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In other words, gridlock is the most likely outcome.

According to the World Gold Council, domestic demand for gold bars and coins tends to rise modestly under Democratic administrations. However, elections have not historically had a significant impact on gold’s global performance over the long haul.

“Given the geographic diversity of demand, what matters is whether the resulting policy changes are sufficiently consequential for the global gold market, and whether they can offset other global forces that drive the price.”

For instance, gold initially fell as equities rose in anticipation of a pro-growth, reflationary agenda after Trump victories in 2016 and 2024. However, much of the move unwound as attention shifted from the election itself to the policies likely to follow.

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World Gold Council analysts expect this pattern to repeat for the 2026 midterms. Any initial market reaction will likely prove short-lived, with the real impact driven by the political gridlock likely to follow a Democrat victory.

“Regardless of the midterm results, historically, the gold price has reacted to the economic, fiscal and monetary policies that ensue, rather than to the outcome of election day itself.”

The World Gold Council highlighted four policy areas that could shift with Democratic Party control of Congress.

Fiscal Policy – The WGC asserts, “Democratic control could limit the administration’s ability to pass deficit-expanding legislation.” It’s true that Democrats would likely block Trump priorities. However, Democrats will push their own spending agenda. It seems the most likely outcome is the status quo – and the status quo is a https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/10/19/trump-administration-runs-third-largest-federal-budget-deficit-in-history-005303";>$2 trillion deficit. Meanwhile, a Democrat controlled Congress could thwart Trump’s tariff agenda, putting downward pressure on federal revenue.
War Funding – This is where Democratic control of Congress could have the most significant impact on the gold market. Congress could cut war funding and force the president to de-escalate in Iran. Soaring oil prices due to the war and their inflationary impact have created significant headwinds for gold. For the last several months, the war has effectively kept a lid on the gold bull market. Remove the lid, and gold could take off.
AI – A Democrat-controlled Congress could constrain support for AI and drive more government regulation. However, Trump’s veto pen could limit the impact. Again, the most likely scenario is gridlock. But even a modest slowdown in AI growth could have an outsized impact on the markets. As the World Gold Council noted, investors are already questioning whether “hyperscale spending” will deliver promised returns. A Democrat-controlled Congress could put additional pressure on tech stocks and tip an already shaky stock market. “Weaker equities, softer growth expectations, lower yields, and potentially a weaker dollar would likely support gold.”
Executive and “Emergency” Powers – A Democratic Congress could incentivize President Trump to expand his use of executive orders and “emergency powers” to circumvent legislative roadblocks. The Trump administration has already used executive powers to a significant degree. His entire tariff policy and the War in Iran were predicated on executive authority. World Gold Council analysts said, “The resulting institutional conflict, legal challenges, and less predictable policymaking could raise both political and geopolitical risk premia, potentially supporting gold.”

The bottom line is that a mere shift in party power isn't likely to move the gold market long term. Any election-related market move will likely prove short-lived. Investors will need to see how the new balance of power impacts policy before projecting the more substantial, longer-term market impact.

Five African Countries Have Opened Gold Refining Facilities This Year

Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

Five countries have opened gold-refining facilities as African gold producers seek to keep more of their wealth at home.

As it stands, large amounts of raw gold ore leave Africa for refining. The gold later returns to the continent as imports in the form of coins, bars, and jewelry.

Zambia is the latest country to welcome a gold refining facility. According to Business Insider Africa, Minera Refineries Zambia Limited operates the facility, which can refine gold up to 99.99 percent purity.

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According to the Zambian Observer, the company believes the facility will generate more than $1.8 billion in economic value.

African Business Insider reports that the new refinery is expected to “capture more value from its gold production, formalize small-scale mining, and diversify its mineral exports.”

Gold accounts for about $262 million in Zambian exports, about 2 percent of the country’s total.

Zambian officials say the refinery will also help formalize artisanal mining. These are small-scale operations generally run by individuals, families, or small groups using simple tools and minimal mechanization. These mines often operate outside of any regulatory structure.

The hope is that a competitive local buyer and refinery could bring more production into recorded exports and the tax system.

Minera Refineries Zambia Limited managing director Andrew Mukupa Katandula recently outlined a 2-year plan to formalize artisanal mining in Zambia. The scheme includes “targeted pre-financing” for miners and improved transparency in gold production and trade.

Zambia is just the most recent African country to enter the gold processing game.

Earlier this month, a gold refinery opened in Ethiopia. State-owned Ethiopian Investment Holdings holds a majority stake in the $50 million joint venture. It will provide services, including melting, testing, ⁠refining, casting, bar minting, and die-making.

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Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the facility will process gold from Ethiopia and elsewhere.

“It enables neighboring countries and regional mining companies to bring their gold to ‌Ethiopia ⁠for advanced refining, certification, value addition, and sale, eliminating the need to export it outside the continent."

Officials say the refinery will process more than 600 tonnes of precious metal annually.

Gold exports serve as one of Ethiopia’s primary sources of foreign exchange, earning the country $5.6 billion during Ethiopia’s 2025/26 fiscal year.

A month earlier, state-owned Raffinerie Nationale d’Or du Burkina Faso began operations in Ouagadougou. According to Business Insider Africa, this facility will process, assay, certify, and store gold domestically, with an initial capacity of around 515 tonnes per year.

Gold accounts for nearly 94 percent of Burkina Faso’s export earnings.

President Ibrahim Traoré said the refinery will help the country move beyond mineral extraction and “develop the full value chain locally.” He went on to say, “Our ambition goes beyond gold.”

“We want to make the mining sector a driver of industrial transformation.”

Meanwhile, a high-purity gold refinery opened in Lagos, Nigeria, in January, and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in March.

African leaders hope development of domestic refining capacity will keep more African wealth in Africa. It could also drive job creation and boost local gold jewelry production.

Gold and Silver Hammered Again — But Buyers Aren't Giving Up

Mon, 26 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

Gold and silver are attempting to regain their footing after another brutal week. Gold plunged roughly 4%, finishing just above $4,000 an ounce in its sharpest weekly decline since June.

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Silver fell nearly 6% to around $54.50 — its lowest closing level in almost a year. Both metals are trading sideways this morning.

The biggest problem remains the Federal Reserve.

Inflation is stubbornly elevated, and surging oil prices threaten to make matters worse. Brent crude topped $116 a barrel last week amid escalating Middle East hostilities, including renewed Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia. Oil has retreated somewhat this morning amid hopes of easing tensions with Iran.

But here's the strange part: Gold fell sharply even as Treasury yields declined and the dollar weakened — developments that ordinarily favor precious metals. Instead, traders fear the Fed will keep interest rates elevated longer or raise them again in December.

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Central bankers meet Wednesday and are expected to hold rates steady, but their guidance could matter more than the decision itself.

Meanwhile, underlying demand for gold tells a different story.

Global gold-backed exchange-traded funds attracted a record $31 billion during the third quarter, according to the World Gold Council, pushing holdings to approximately 4,256 metric tons. China's central bank purchased another 23 tons in September, bringing its reported reserves to roughly 2,410 tons.

Indian gold buying has also improved during the festival and wedding season as lower prices attract bargain hunters.

Silver has suffered particularly heavy speculative selling, with futures traders dramatically reducing bullish positions. Yet supply concerns persist. Major producer Fresnillo recently reported an 11.6% annual decline in third-quarter silver production.

More volatility could be coming.

Beyond Wednesday's Fed announcement, Thursday brings new economic growth and inflation reports.

Gold is struggling around the psychologically important $4,000 level, while $50 represents a potentially important support area for silver.

The short-term charts look ugly. But Washington's massive debts haven't disappeared. Inflation hasn't been defeated. Central banks haven't stopped accumulating gold. And geopolitical instability continues threatening the global economy.

The Fed may be able to push precious metals prices around in the short run. What it cannot do is manufacture sound money, eliminate government debts, or restore the purchasing power Americans have already lost.

Investors shouldn't confuse a painful correction with the end of the bigger gold and silver story.

AI Security: You Can't Hack Physical Gold and Silver

Mon, 26 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

Some people in tech circles are calling it Black October.

AI has reached the point where it can blast through cybersecurity defenses that were once considered unbreachable.

That means virtually anything digital can be hacked – including your bank account.

Do you know what can’t be hacked?

Physical gold and silver.

AI on the Loose?

Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) reports have surged this month. These are a standardized catalog of publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Google Threat Intelligence reported that monthly vulnerability disclosures more than doubled from 5,045 in January to 10,740 in August. As this chart shows, things have gone parabolic in the last couple of weeks.

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I’m not a tech bro, and a lot of this stuff flies over my head. However, I do recognize panic, and it is running rampant in cyber circles right now.

John Milinovich described the situation in https://x.com/jmilinovich/status/2113308026954543396"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">a post on X.

“We're 48 hours into what is being called Black October. In the last 2 days there have been several dozen cyberattacks which, in isolation, would each have been the worst to happen in an entire calendar year. Every sector from government to education to big tech and banks is being massively affected, and people are starting to freak out.”

Several banks have reported AI agents working within customer accounts. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ai-agents-customer-bank-accounts-security/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">CBS News reported, “Some of the biggest financial institutions in the U.S. say customers have given their personal AI agents, which are unvetted by banks, access to their financial accounts.”

And some of these AI bots have apparently taken actions the account holder never authorized. This includes calling customer support to file complaints. An Axios reporter called it “a nightmare of AI agent activity for banks.”

White House “AI czar” David Sacks insisted this uptick in AI agent activity was not a “cyberattack.”

"There's a world of difference between user-authorized agents and true unauthorized/rogue agents that could constitute cyberattacks. Most of the activity described in the Axios story appears to be the former: customers sharing credentials with agents so they can take actions on their behalf."

Nevertheless, there is growing worry about bad actors using sophisticated AI tools for nefarious ends.

Milinovich explained that top AI models can rival the most sophisticated programmers. However, there’s a big difference. AI doesn’t need to sleep.

“They can work 24/7, and you can spin up 10,000 of them with a single command, and they'll work together tirelessly until they accomplish their task. The most advanced models today are from companies like Anthropic and OpenAI, whose current best technology is so good that they haven't been able to roll it out to everyone yet because of the national security risks it poses.”

Milinovich said that the best open-source models accessible to anyone are only slightly behind, calling them 90 to 95 percent as capable.

“These models, developed primarily in China, are being used by black hat hackers to wreak havoc on the Western capitalist structure. Presumably, this has been part of China's plan the entire time, and we're seeing its implications fall out in real time.”

Your Money at Risk

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We tend to think of money in the bank as “safe.”

Is it, though?

The bank introduces significant https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2024/02/29/buy-gold-and-silver-to-hedge-against-counterparty-risk-003015";>counterparty risk. Simply put, you have no control over your funds when they are in the bank.

Hackers do.

With a sophisticated AI tool, hackers could access your savings account and drain it completely.

They cannot “drain” the silver coin I’m holding in my hand.

This risk is inherent in every digital asset, from gold ETFs to Bitcoin. If it’s stored on a computer, it could be hacked.

Given the probable rise of AI-assisted cybercrime, holding physical assets such as gold or silver will become increasingly important.

Even absent security threats, it’s still unwise to rely solely on digital assets. Consider what would happen if a major storm took out the electrical grid in your area. How would you access your money or do business if you can’t even fire up your computer or charge your phone?

We take the digital world for granted, but it wouldn’t take much to send us back to the proverbial Stone Age. It’s wise to be prepared. Hold some physical gold or silver as insurance.

Russia has learned the value of hard assets like gold as it navigates a world where it has virtually no access to dollars. https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/10/26/russian-gold-reserves-down-62-tonnes-this-year-as-they-support-the-wartime-economy-005318";>The Russians have used their extensive gold reserves to keep their economy afloat.

As the threat of sophisticated cyberattacks grows, it’s important to take steps to secure your digital world. Use long, difficult passwords and change them frequently. Turn on two-factor authentication. And beware of giving AI bots access to sensitive accounts.

Most importantly, keep at least one toe in the physical world. Keep assets you can hold in your hand. Gold and silver in your safe can’t be hacked, and they can’t be “turned off.”

Russian Gold Reserves Down 62 Tonnes This Year as They Support the Wartime Economy

Mon, 26 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

Russia is demonstrating that gold's role as money has not diminished. It remains a critical monetary reserve asset that can be utilized when conventional revenue and financing are restricted.

Russia drew down its gold holdings by another 6.2 tonnes in September. That dropped the country’s gold reserves to 2,264 tonnes, the lowest level since 2019.

Since December 2025, Russia’s reported gold holdings have declined by 2 million ounces (approximately 62 tonnes). In the face of economic sanctions and wartime expenses, the Russian government has used the yellow metal to support its economy.

Russia has reported a decrease in its gold reserves for 10 straight months.

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Interestingly, this isn’t the most rapid gold drawdown in modern Russian history. During the 1998 financial crisis, the Bank of Russia sold 118 tonnes of gold in three months when the government defaulted on domestic debt and the ruble collapsed.

Most of the https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2026/10/15/russian-gold-is-flowing-through-hong-kong-005294";>Russian gold appears to be flowing through Hong Kong. The special Chinese administrative region imported a record 112.7 tonnes of Russian gold through the first seven months of 2026. It imported 92.1 tonnes of Russian gold in 2025. That compares with just 3.3 tonnes in 2021, the year before Russia invaded Ukraine.

The Russian economy is teetering under sanction pressure. The West froze Russian assets and locked the country out of the SWIFT payment system, effectively cutting the country off from the dollar-denominated global economy. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/10/20/russias-gold-reserves-fall-to-lowest-since-2019-as-budget-deficit-widens-a94036"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to the Moscow Times, the Putin administration faces a 7.3 trillion-ruble deficit this year, twice the forecast target.

According to reporting by the Times, “The latest sales are linked to Central Bank operations that mirror earlier transactions by the Finance Ministry involving the National Wealth Fund, Russia’s rainy-day fund, Reuters has reported. Under that mechanism, the Central Bank sells gold into the market to offset earlier sales by the ministry from the fund to finance the budget deficit.”

Finam analyst Alexander Potavin said gold sales could also help the Russian central bank address foreign currency liquidity shortages, noting that higher global prices likely incentivized selling.

Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina addressed the decline in Russia’s gold reserves at a press conference last month, calling the drawdown a "small decrease" related to "Finance Ministry's operations, with funds from the National Wealth Fund; this happens as part of the fiscal rule. Gold is also used for the production of coins."

"We do not disclose additional details of our operations with gold.”

Russia was prepared for this.

The Bank of Russia launched a gold buying spree beginning in 2014. Over the next six years, the Russian central bank increased its reserves by around 40 million ounces (1,244 tonnes).

During this period, the gold price ranged from $1,100 to $1,500 an ounce.

When the war began, Russia held about half of its reserves in dollar, euro, and pound sterling assets. The other half was in yuan and gold, which remained accessible.

The Russians also made a shrewd move before they invaded Ukraine, transferring their National Welfare Fund holdings into yuan (60 percent) and gold (40 percent). https://www.rand.org/randeurope/research/projects/2024/russia-gold-in-wartime.html"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">A RAND Corporation study noted, “This was an indication that Russia was preparing for increased Western economic pressure. During the war, Russia has been using these funds to support the budget.”

Last year, Bloomberg Economics analyst Alex Isakov noted that “Accumulating a gold pile was a hedge against geopolitical shocks — it worked.”

“The Bank of Russia’s approach to gold purchases addressed three different goals: (i) diversifying international reserve assets away from the risks of reserve currency issuing countries, (ii) boosting domestic local currency liquidity by exchanging physical gold for rubles, and (iii) providing a source of stable demand for local gold miners. The increase in the value of gold holdings proves the diversification and hedging value of gold reserves.”

As the RAND report put it, “Gold has become a strategic resource for the Russian state.”

“Gold has a bearing on Russia’s revenue generation capacity and its monetary policy; it is central to Russia’s international campaign for de-dollarization; and it plays an important part in Russia’s wartime trade relations, notably as a means of payment.

“The Russian state is evidently encouraging barter and exchange-in-kind, and otherwise resorting to gold to secure hard currency and foreign goods, but the scale, terms, and participants in these activities is unknown.”

According to the Kyiv Independent, Russia is exchanging gold for other currencies, including dollars and euros. The country has also used gold directly for purchases.

“There is little doubt that Russia is already using gold to pay for goods it cannot procure conventionally, or for transactions it wishes to obscure. An open-source investigation by Sayari, for example, revealed that unsanctioned banks were trading gold for cash in Turkey. Russia has also partly paid Iranian drone manufacturer Sahara Thunder in gold for 6,000 Shahed drones and related equipment.”

Despite its best efforts, the West has found it difficult to stop Russia from using gold due to its fungible nature (easy to exchange) and global demand for the precious metal.

Gold is money, and it is recognized as such everywhere. Even if they don’t want dollars or some other fiat currencies, everybody wants gold.

This is not to justify Russia’s wartime actions. It merely underscores gold's historic role as money and its important place in the global economy. When fiat currencies are cut off or fail, gold will always remain a viable alternative.

Russia’s recent selling reveals just why central banks hold gold. It serves as a long-term reserve free from https://www.moneymetals.com/news/2024/02/29/buy-gold-and-silver-to-hedge-against-counterparty-risk-003015";>counterparty risk. And since its value is recognized globally, it can serve as an emergency fund – even if you’ve been locked out of the global dollar-dominated financial system.

Monetary Lessons from the Spanish Scholastics

Sun, 25 Oct 2026 00:00:00 EST

It is becoming more common for those on the right to be skeptical or downright hostile to free markets. Since President Trump entered the political scene over a decade ago, conservatives have increasingly abandoned free market principles.

The same is true for the religious right. Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic and presumptive successor to President Trump, has been a vocal https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/huey-longs-populism-is-back-in-fashion/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">opponent of free market principles throughout his career in the US Senate and the Trump administration. On the academic side, Patrick Deneen, a political philosopher at the University of Notre Dame, has decried free markets in favor of wealth redistribution.

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While the religious right is turning against free markets, it is important to remind ourselves what Christian theologians of the past have taught on the matter. Let us look at what they thought about monetary policy.

We will examine one group of theologians from the period of Late Scholasticism (16th and 17th centuries): the Spanish Scholastics. These theologians were mainly writing from the School of Salamanca. The father of their school of thought was Francisco de Vitoria (d. 1546), commonly known as “the father of international law” and famous for writing against the enslavement and horrible treatment of the native people of the New World.

They were occupied with many questions related to commerce. In many ways, they had the welfare of commercial society at the forefront of their minds. This concern was made clear in their dedication to sound money.

The Spanish Scholastics recognized the value of money. Juan de Mariana (d. 1624) argued that when the legal value of money decreases, prices are sure to increase. Fellow scholastics Martín de Azpilcueta (d. 1586) and Bartolomé de Albornoz (d. 1573) agree with Mariana–-the cause of high prices is the abundance of money. The Spanish Scholastics were therefore ahead of their time in understanding that inflation is, as Milton Friedman https://www.hoover.org/research/inflation-true-and-false"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">said, “always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.”

For the Spanish Scholastics, money was some kind of precious metal—silver or gold. Paper currency divorced from a metallic standard was not yet a live possibility, so the ability of the government to increase the quantity of money was restricted relative to today, where paper fiat currency is almost a fact of life.

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Governments were not fully powerless at that time. They could debase the money by diluting its metallic content, changing the shape, altering the legal value, etc. They recognized that inflation was something of a tax, and since they believed that governments had the right to tax for necessary revenues, they also acknowledged that there may be circumstances where debasement is necessary. However, they restricted the government’s ability to do so to crises and, this is remarkable, Mariana believed the government (the king in this case) would have to make restitution to the people for the damage done.

Mariana, at least, believed that the government should not be let off the hook for its monetary mischief, but is this the general opinion of the Spanish Scholastics? Tomás de Mercado (d. 1575) https://store.mises.org/Faith-and-Liberty-The-Economic-Thought-of-the-Late-Scholastics-P170.aspx"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">stated that the durability and invariability of the value of money was “necessary for good government and peace in the kingdom.”

Domingo de Soto (d. 1560) also https://store.mises.org/Faith-and-Liberty-The-Economic-Thought-of-the-Late-Scholastics-P170.aspx"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">affirmed that money should be “firm and fixed” or else the government may lose the trust of its subjects. Not trusting the government itself can lead to distrusting and not having confidence in the legal order. If the government consumes the value of money, what else will it consume?

More can be read about the Spanish Scholastics and the above arguments in Alejandro Chafuen’s Faith and Liberty: The Economic Thought of the Late Scholastics. It should be noted that many of their arguments concerning money are drawn from older writers such as Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. It is clear from these thinkers and the writings of the Spanish Scholastics that sound money was important to them not only from an economic perspective, but also from the perspective of Christian morality. Departing from sound money through monetary inflation is akin to theft, which violates Christian tenets, such as thou shalt not steal (Exodus 20:15).

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What lesson should we take from the teaching of the Spanish Scholastics on money? The religious right, rather than being tempted by the interventionism peddled by their thought leaders and politicians, must look back to what the moral and economic experts in the Christian tradition have said. Rather than being allured by short-term political gains of weak money, we must pursue a policy of sound money.

To the Spanish Scholastics, this meant a metallic money, or at the very least a money untouched by government policy. Inflation should be curbed by avoiding debasement of the currency, and if the government is pressed by necessity to debase, it must compensate the people for the damage done. This advice is radical relative to the present situation but sobering.