The Markets Run Red

The charts are showing red all around. 

That’s been the case for the past few weeks, ever since Trump ordered bombs to begin dropping and the war with Iran kicked off. 

What was promised to be a quick conflict is instead quickly becoming a protracted struggle with an increasing scope, climbing costs, and a growing level of both domestic and international scrutiny. 

And all of that, of course, has been weighing on the markets in ways that are impossible to ignore. 

I don’t need to tell you to look at the gas prices. Those shot up almost overnight after the first missiles began flying. 

And the kind of energy crisis that gives way to that rapid rise in gas prices ripples out. If it hasn’t weighed on food costs yet, it’s only a matter of time. Same for everything else on a store shelf and the electricity needed to power those stores and our homes. 

All of that is to say that, the longer this thing drags on, the more we’re going to see inflationary pressures coming to the forefront. Those pressures are mounting during a period of slower growth, stoking fears that we’re going to see a period of economic stagflation. 

It seems like no one is willing to say it just yet. It could be out of fear of sparking backlash from the administration, or it could be no one wants to be the one to yell fire in the proverbial theater, but the signs are there and becoming increasingly clear. 

It started with the ongoing energy crisis and the general hit that the indexes took in the days following the beginning of the war. But things are continuing to spiral. 

This week, the Federal Reserve held a meeting where Chairman Powell revealed that interest rates would hold steady, and the market reacted with the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P all sliding. He cited inflationary fears and the uncertainty of the war as key factors. There’s still a chance there will be rate cuts later in the year, but a chance isn’t a guarantee and it would still be fewer than the market wants or initially anticipated. 

And while the broader indexes took big hits during the onslaught of news, not even time-tested commodities were safe from the fallout. 

Gold and silver, which had been market darlings, also shed some value. Gold slid back under $5000 per ounce and silver is back under $80. 

These are assets that have long been seen as safe havens, but it seems like investors are liquidating what they have in light of the war along with recent news of a higher-than-expected Producer Price Index (PPI) earlier this week. Those numbers carry a lot of psychological weight, so the dip in prices could trigger further selling before things settle in these commodities. 

For now, capital seems to be flowing into the dollar, something that has traditionally worked against gold. Investors looking at this from a long-term perspective should be able to see the opportunity. 

Despite recent troubles, gold is still in a bull market year-to-date. The fundamentals are still in place to continue driving a trend that has been ongoing for over a year. Importantly, it helps to remember that trends like this never move in a straight line. Instead, there are peaks and valleys, and those valleys are the best time to buy in and wait for the next wave that will carry investments higher. 

There is no telling what could trigger the next push higher, but the increasing talk about inflation could be a factor. As Trump continues to dig his heels into this latest misadventure in the Middle East, that talk could grow louder. 

That means now is the perfect time to buy into gold. There is one gold investment vehicle in particular, one that not many investors know about, that is poised for massive potential gains. 

You can click here to learn all of the details and see exactly why you should be running toward gold at exactly the time when many investors are running away from it.

Keep your eyes open,

Ryan Stancil

Ryan Stancil
Editor, Bizarro World