Gold and silver’s historic price rises are raising questions about the broader state of the world.

For Mark Moss, the surges reflect a deeper breakdown of trust in sovereign currencies.

“The real driver is not inflation,” the investor and commentator emphasized during a fireside chat at the recent Vancouver Resource Investment Conference. “The real driver is trust.”

Many investors remain focused on short-term price signals and conventional indicators, such as real interest rates, while overlooking deeper forces shaping capital allocation. According to Moss, the current state of the market favors long-term allocation. In his view, conviction — not timing — should guide investment decisions.

“You can’t borrow someone else’s conviction,” he said. “You have to start to learn to build your own thesis, and then you have to learn to look to find things that either confirm that thesis or deny that thesis.”

Precious metals are continuing a powerful price rally that began last year.

The gold price broke above US$5,500 per ounce for the first time on Wednesday (January 28), while silver broke through the triple-digit level last week and has continued rising, passing US$119 per ounce.

These moves are happening amid escalating geopolitical and policy uncertainty. However, Moss cautioned against focusing on shorter-term gold and silver price drivers, instead pointing to what he described as a fundamental dilemma facing governments with rising debt burdens — a dynamic he said is reshaping global capital flows.

Referencing comments by hedge fund founder Ray Dalio at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Moss described a “rock and a hard place” scenario. Governments face a choice between allowing debt crises that risk defaults and asset collapses, or continuing to expand money supply in ways that erode purchasing power.

“Either they have option one, the rock, which is a sovereign debt crisis, asset prices plunging — that’s what everybody’s kind of thinking. The markets are going to crash. My home values, my retirement value is going to crash. But the problem with that is they lose everything. They get wiped out, they have massive civil unrest,’ he said.

“And then the hard place is they can print the money. And so of course, they’ll always choose to bring the money.’

As a result, large institutional and sovereign investors face losses whether governments default or inflate, prompting a reassessment of traditional reserve assets. Moss said gold has emerged as one response to that reassessment, alongside broader interest in commodities and critical minerals. He further pointed to continued central bank gold buying as a signal that confidence in fiat currencies and the post-war financial order is weakening.

According to the World Gold Council, central banks have been purchasing gold at record levels in recent years.

Moss cited Poland as a notable example, describing it as a close US ally that has nonetheless been accumulating gold aggressively. Other large entities are following the same strategy — Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, recently revealed that part of its long-term plan is the stockpiling of gold in a Swiss bunker.

Gold’s rally is built on a strong multi-year advance. After starting 2025 at around US$2,640, the price had climbed to roughly US$3,200 by April before trading in a narrow range through the summer.

Momentum returned in late August, carrying gold above US$4,300 by mid-October. While the price briefly dipped below US$4,000 during a subsequent pullback, the retracement proved shallower and shorter than many market watchers expected. Gold resumed its ascent in mid-November and accelerated sharply toward the end of 2025.

Right now, the status quo is in favor of precious metals.

Regardless, Moss returned to the importance of taking a long-term perspective, stating that investors who fixate on short-term price moves risk missing the broader shift underway as trust dynamics change across the global economy.

“If you’re trying to understand why the price of gold dipped from US$5,000 and now it’s US$4,800, I can’t really help you with that,” Moss said. “But we understand the direction that’s at hand.”

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Investing in oil stocks can be a lucrative endeavor, but determining the right time to enter a sector known for volatile swings can be tricky.

Over the past five years, the oil market’s inherent volatility has been on clear display. Major declines in consumption brought on by the COVID-19 lockdowns was followed by oil prices surging to US$122 per barrel for Brent and US$115 per barrel for Western Texas Intermediate (WTI) in mid-2022, as the world economy began to recover and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to the consequent sanctions on Russian oil.

In 2023, oil prices experienced significant volatility. Fears of a global recession gave rise to bearish sentiment over much of the oil sector and pushed Brent prices as low as US$67 and WTI as low as US$64 per barrel in the first half of the year. Despite a Q3 spike in Brent above the US$98 level and WTI above US$90, oil prices trended back down in Q4 to dip below US$78 for Brent and US$71 for WTI even with conflict escalating in the Middle East.

In 2024, the oil market experienced a relatively stable but downward-trending year overall. As tensions flared up between Iran and Israel in the Middle East, prices for Brent and WTI respectively peaked at around US$93 and US$88 per barrel in mid-April. In the second half of the year, record US production and sluggish global demand growth, particularly in China, pushed prices down to below US$70 for Brent and US$65 for WTI.

In 2025, volatility was very much in play for global oil markets. Some of the biggest factors driving that volatility were OPEC+ production hikes, weaker demand from major economies like China and US President Donald Trump’s tariff wars. Brent and WTI crude both started the year above US$70 per barrel but late in the year, Brent dipped below US$60 per barrel and WTI fell as low as US$55 per barrel.

Since the start of 2026, the price of Brent crude oil has climbed by nearly 9 percent to US$66.37 per barrel and WTI crude oil is up by 8 percent to US$61.90 per barrel as of January 14 as geopolitical risks continue to threaten supply despite broader market oversupply pressures.

Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Platinum may be rare, but it is the third most-traded precious metal in the world, behind gold and silver.

The world’s platinum demand varies widely across many sectors. Most notably, platinum metal is used in autocatalysts and jewelry, as well as for medical and industrial purposes. Those interested in investing in platinum would do well to be aware of the many platinum uses. After all, by knowing which industries require platinum, it’s possible to understand supply and demand dynamics, and to be aware of how the precious metal’s price may move in the future.

With that in mind, here’s a list of the four main platinum uses. Scroll on to learn more about platinum’s key applications.

Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

South Harz Potash Limited (SHP:AU) has announced Swedish Exploration Licence Approvals

Download the PDF here.

The US Federal Reserve held its first meeting of 2026 from Tuesday (January 27) to Wednesday (January 28) amid growing tensions between Fed independence and the Trump administration.

The central bank met analysts’ expectations by maintaining the federal funds rate in the 3.5 to 3.75 percent range. After three consecutive cuts at the end of 2025, the Fed decided to hold the line on interest rates. The board welcomed some positive signs of stabilization in the US economy, but has decided to take a “wait-and-see” approach.

The Fed has a dual mandate to promote maximum employment and price stability.

For several months now, its Board of Governors has been split between those concerned with preventing a further slowdown in the US labor market and those fearing the fight against inflation is far from over.

The Fed’s preferred inflation metric, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, came in above the 2 percent target, landing at 2.8 percent for November 2025. Meanwhile, Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that the US economy added a modest 50,000 jobs in December 2025 compared to 56,000 jobs added in the previous month.

A weak labor market in the face of entrenched inflation has left the Fed in a pickle.

Lowering rates in turn lowers the cost of borrowing, which can provide businesses with more runway to grow their workforce. However, increasing available money supply by easing access to borrowing can also increase inflation.

The split between doves and hawks that began in late 2025 is still plaguing the Fed into the new year, which promises to see current Chair Jerome Powell replaced with someone more likely to be on board with the much lower rate environment desired by the Trump administration. Two Fed board members cast dissenting votes against holding rates steady, including Governor Stephen Miran and Governor Christopher Waller, who both pushed for a 0.25 percent cut.

“Economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace,” explained the Fed. “Job gains have remained low, and the unemployment rate has shown some signs of stabilization. Inflation remains somewhat elevated.”

The unemployment rate ended 2025 at 4.4 percent. While that’s historically low, data also shows limited job vacancies, and low rates of new hiring. Business Insider reporter Madison Hoff notes that economists are calling this a “low-fire, low-hire environment” due to uncertainty over where the economy is headed.

“It’s likely Fed leaders will stick to the status quo in January, in hopes that steady rates will push inflation closer to their 2% goal,” she wrote. “Affordability is a major concern for American households, as prices rise on housing, groceries, healthcare, and more. Powell has consistently prioritized price stability during his time as chair.”

During a press conference following the rate decision, Powell was careful not to commit to any future rate cut timeline. While the board still sees “some tension between employment and inflation,” that is moderating, and the Fed no longer sees any big risk either of accelerated inflation or a further significant breakdown in the labor market.

There’s also not much chance of a rate hike, either.

“We don’t take things off the table, but it isn’t anybody’s base case right now,” said Powell.

While PCE remains elevated at 2.8 percent, Powell noted that if the impact of tariffs were removed that figure would be hovering just above 2 percent. He explained that the Fed thinks this impact is largely in the rear-view mirror now.

Any day now, US President Donald Trump is expected to announce a replacement for Powell, whose term expires in May 2026. Trump has criticized the Fed and Powell in particular, saying they haven’t lowered rates quickly enough.

On October 27, US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent announced a shortlist of candidates to replace Powell, including Fed governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh and BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) executive Rick Rieder.

The Wall Street heavyweight is reportedly the favored candidate at the moment.

“Under Warsh, the Fed would likely signal a preference for a smaller footprint. Despite recent support for near-term rate cuts, his longer-standing views favor a scarce-reserves framework and balance-sheet reduction, which markets would associate with higher term premium and greater yield-curve volatility,” he added.

Trump’s feud with the Fed escalated earlier this month, when the US Department of Justice served the agency with grand jury subpoenas, threatening a criminal indictment over Powell’s testimony to the Senate Banking Committee this past June. In addition to that, last week, the Supreme Court sat for oral arguments over whether Trump can legally remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook from her position over allegations of mortgage fraud.

Although Powell batted away any political questions from reporters during the press conference, he did acknowledge that the Supreme Court case between Trump and Cook is the most “important legal case in the Fed’s 113-year history.’

The gold price spiked to a new high of US$5,361.31 per ounce after the Fed’s decision, although much of that boost likely came from a much weaker US dollar, which is trading at four year lows. Silver traded in a range of US$110 to US$116 per ounce, just below the all-time high of US$117.72 per ounce set on Monday (January 26).

Equities reactions were fairly muted following the rate announcement on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:INX) up 0.083 percent to reach 6,972.78. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq-100 (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX) gained 0.31 percent to come in at 26,020.9, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:DJI) was down 0.0064 percent, coming to 49,000.29. It seems Wall Street had already factored in the Fed’s decision to hold.

The next Fed interest rate decision will come on March 18, the second to last Fed meeting before Powell’s term as chair comes to an end. Most analysts expect interest rates to remain in a holding pattern until the second half of 2026.

Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Here’s a quick recap of the crypto landscape for Wednesday (January 28) as of 9:00 a.m. UTC.

Get the latest insights on Bitcoin, Ether and altcoins, along with a round-up of key cryptocurrency market news.

Bitcoin price performance, January 28, 2025.

Chart via TradingView.

Ether (ETH) was priced at US$2,990.46, up by 3.7 percent over the last 24 hours.

Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.