💰 📈 🌐 Gold inventories in the 3 largest COMEX gold vaults just surged by 15 MILLION ounces in 2 months.
⬛️ That's a +115% increase, putting physical gold holdings ABOVE 2020 pandemic levels.
🔶️ These are secure gold storage facilities approved by the Commodity Exchange (COMEX). They are literally located under and around Manhattan, NY. January ALONE saw 19+ THOUSAND contracts delivered. Never in HISTORY have we seen buying like this.
🇬🇧 As COMEX inventories surge, London vault inventories are being depleted. Withdrawal times in London are rising toward 8 WEEKS. Meanwhile, the US has switched from being a net gold exporter to a net gold importer in November 2024.
🔶️ Clearly, US gold markets and physical gold demand is signaling a major pivot from the norm. Gold prices are now up +40% in 12 months as the US Dollar and interest rates are up sharply. Not even a 10% pullback seems to be attainable. This has never happened in history.
🇨🇳 China has also joined the gold buying party. China’s central bank bought 5 tonnes of gold in January, its 3rd consecutive monthly purchase. Assets in Chinese Gold ETFs have TRIPLED in just 18 months. There are now $9.5 BILLION of assets in Chinese gold ETFs alone.
🔶️ What's even more unusual is gold has DOUBLED the S&P 500's +22% return over the last 12 months. Usually gold prices are a hedge against equity market volatility. As stocks have posted a historic rally, gold has posted an even more historic rally. Truly unusual.
🔶️ The beginning of President Trump's trade war has only accelerated this trend. While precious metals are not currently a part of these tariffs, they are serving as the GLOBAL hedge. We expect gold to continue to serve as the global hedge against inflation AND uncertainty.
🔶️ And this is particularly the case as US Deficit spending is out of control. The US has borrowed $838 BILLION in the first 4 months of FY 2025. This is crushing bond prices as treasury yields are driven higher. Gold's position as the global hedge has only grown as a result.
🔗 Kobeissi Letter
🇺🇸 Teenagers are now facing charges after doing a ding-dong ditch prank with a twist. They showed up in masks, wearing tactical gear and a rifle, or what looks like a rifle.
Two #Delaware teenagers, aged 16 and 17, faced charges after knocking on doors in New Castle while wearing tactical-style vests and carrying what appeared to be a rifle, police said.
This could’ve ended so badly..
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🌆 Market News Digest
[Oct 20, 2026 EST]
🔥 Top Stories
• US–Iran tensions swing markets — Hormuz tanker fire, Israel warns of renewed strikes, Rubio says talks are hard; oil stayed volatile even as Brent eased below $109
• Anthropic’s massive AI spend shock — WSJ says it may spend >$600B on compute, with huge cloud/Nvidia commitments and >$80B H1 loss
• Trump on Ukraine, Iran and trade — says Ukraine must make a deal, India trade is “pretty close,” and he’s weighing Iran action
⛽ Oil & Energy
• Hormuz tanker fire / mine incident — IRGC says a supertanker carrying >2M barrels caught fire after hitting a mine
• Europe gas >€90 — benchmark tops 2022 levels on supply fears; US diesel prices remain elevated
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📊 Markets & Macro
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📝 🇪🇺 🇫🇷 Mario Nawfal on X: Europe's riots are just the beginning. The real economic shock hasn't even arrived yet.
I spoke with economist Philip Pilkington about the unrest spreading across France, Italy and Albania.
He thinks we're watching the early stages of something much bigger.
One statistic really caught my attention.
According to Pilkington, France's inflation-adjusted household food consumption has fallen roughly 6.4% since 2022. He suspects the poorest households have suffered far steeper cuts.
Now add another surge in energy prices.
Pilkington pointed to rice futures rising 70% this year, wheat and sugar climbing 40%, and fertilizer shortages threatening next year's harvest.
His prediction is that the worst food inflation could arrive this winter or next spring.
And there's a political problem sitting right on top of it.
Governments across Europe are already deeply unpopular. People are struggling to afford basic necessities, and another prolonged energy ...