John Rubino, who writes a newsletter on Substack, explains the factors behind gold’s ‘epic run,’ pointing to underlying elements like Basel III and BRICS demand, as well as current events.
He believes gold has the wind at its back, although silver might be the better buy right now.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Nvidia blasted Anthropic Thursday in a rare public clash over artificial intelligence policy with U.S. chip export restrictions set to take effect.
“American firms should focus on innovation and rise to the challenge, rather than tell tall tales that large, heavy, and sensitive electronics are somehow smuggled in ‘baby bumps’ or ‘alongside live lobsters,’ ” a spokesperson for Nvidia said.
Anthropic, the AI startup backed by billions from Amazon, argued for tighter controls and enforcement, saying in a blog post Wednesday that Chinese smuggling tactics involved chips hidden in “prosthetic baby bumps” and “packed alongside live lobsters.”
Chip restrictions from former President Joe Biden’s term, called the “AI Diffusion Rule,” are set to take effect May 15. The rule puts global export controls on advanced AI chips and model weights to prevent rival nations like China from gaining ground in an escalating AI arms race.
President Donald Trump is reportedly working on updating these restrictions, adding another layer of uncertainty to the already contentious policy.
Anthropic, which relies heavily on Nvidia hardware to train its models, is calling for tighter restrictions that could limit Nvidia’s overseas business and revenue from chip sales.
Anthropic argued that compute access is the key strategic chokepoint in the race to build frontier AI. The company proposed lowering the export threshold for Tier 2 countries, tightening the rules to reduce smuggling risks, and increasing funding for enforcement.
“Maintaining America’s compute advantage through export controls is essential for national security and economic prosperity,” Anthropic wrote.
In a sharply worded response to Anthropic, an Nvidia spokesperson blasted the use of policy to limit competitiveness.
“China, with half of the world’s AI researchers, has highly capable AI experts at every layer of the AI stack. America cannot manipulate regulators to capture victory in AI,” the spokesperson said.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who visited with Chinese trade officials in mid-April, said Wednesday in Washington, D.C. that China is “not behind” the U.S. in AI and praised Huawei as a top global tech company.
“They’re incredible in computing and network technology, all these essential capabilities to advance AI,” Huang said. “They have made enormous progress in the last several years.”
Shares of Tesla were flat in premarket trading Thursday after the EV maker denied a Wall Street Journal report that its board was searching for a replacement for chief executive Elon Musk.
The report, citing comments from sources familiar with the discussions, said that Tesla’s board members reached out to several executive search firms to work on a formal process for finding the company’s next CEO. Shares of Tesla fell as much as 3% in overnight trading on trading platform Robinhood following the news, before paring losses.
Tesla chair Robyn Denholm wrote on the social media platform X that the report was “absolutely false.”
“Earlier today, there was a media report erroneously claiming that the Tesla Board had contacted recruitment firms to initiate a CEO search at the company,” she wrote.
“This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published). The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead.”
It comes after a sharp drop in the electric vehicle giant’s sales and profits, with its top and bottom lines missing estimates in the first quarter. Musk has admitted that his involvement with the Trump administration could be hurting the automaker’s stock price.
The mega-billionaire said on a Tesla earnings call last week that he plans to spend just a “day or two per week” running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency beginning in May.
Tesla’s total revenue slipped 9% year-on-year to hit $19.34 billion in the January-March quarter. This falls short of the $21.11 billion forecast by analysts, LSEG data shows.
Revenue from its automotive segment declined 20% year-on-year to $14 billion, as the company needed to update lines at its four vehicle factories to start making a refreshed version of its popular Model Y SUV. Tesla also attributed the decline to lower average selling prices and sales incentives as a drag on revenue and profit.
Its net income plunged 71% to $409 million, or 12 cents a share, from $1.39 billion or 41 cents a year ago.
Since the start of the year, its shares have plunged over 30%.
Data center demand is not slowing down in the world’s largest market centered in northern Virginia, executives at Dominion Energy said Thursday.
Dominion provides electricity in Loudoun County, nicknamed “Data Center Alley” because it hosts the largest cluster of data centers in the world. The utility works closely with the Big Tech companies that are investing tens of billions of dollars in data centers as they train artificial intelligence models.
“We have not observed any evidence of slowing demand from data center customers across our service area,” Dominion’s chief financial officer, Steven Ridge, told analysts on the company’s first-quarter earnings call.
Wall Street has speculated that the tech sector might pull back investment in data centers as President Donald Trump’s tariffs make it more difficult to source parts and raise the risk of a recession. The emergence of China’s DeepSeek AI lab sparked a sell-off of power stocks earlier this year as investors worried that its model is more energy efficient.
Dominion has 40 gigawatts of data center capacity in various stages of contracting, Ridge said. Data center customers have not paused spending on new projects in Dominion’s service area and they have not shown any concerns about economic uncertainty, Dominion CEO Robert Blue said.
“We’re seeing continued appetite for additional data center capacity in our service territory,” Blue said. “They want to go fast, they always want to go fast. That’s their business, that’s always been their business. We’ve been effective at serving them thus far. I don’t see any reason why that’s going to change in the future,” he said.
Executives with Amazon and Nvidia said last week at an energy conference in Oklahoma City that data center demand is not slowing. Dominion shares rose about 1% in Thursday trading as the utility maintained its full-year operating earnings guidance of $3.28 to $3.52 per share.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that defeating Israel’s enemies is more important than securing the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.
While the prime minister acknowledged that freeing the 59 remaining hostages is a “very important goal,” he described Israel’s fight against its enemies as the “supreme objective” of the war.
“We have many objectives, many goals in this war. We want to bring back all of our hostages,” Netanyahu said. “That is a very important goal. In war, there is a supreme objective. And that supreme objective is victory over our enemies. And that is what we will achieve.”
Netanyahu’s remarks, which came on Israel’s Independence Day, mark the first time that the prime minister has explicitly described returning the hostages as a secondary goal of the war. He has previously described defeating Hamas and securing the release of the hostages as the primary goals of Israel’s war in Gaza.
His comments drew a backlash from representatives of hostage families.
“Prime minister, the return of the hostages is not ‘less’ important – it is the supreme goal that should guide the government of Israel,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement. “The families of the hostages are concerned.”
Netanyahu’s comments put him at odds with the majority of the Israeli public, which overwhelmingly supports a deal to release all the hostages and end the war in Gaza, according to recent opinion polls.
But it puts the prime minister in the company of Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who recently made similar comments.
“We need to tell the truth – bringing back the hostages is not the most important goal. It is, of course, a very, very, very, very important goal,” Smotrich said last week. “But anyone who wants to destroy Hamas and eliminate the possibility of another October 7 must understand that in Gaza, there can’t be a situation where Hamas remains present and intact.”
Members of Netanyahu’s governing coalition have been pushing the prime minister to continue fighting. Senior Israeli officials have warned for weeks that the military will intensify its operations in Gaza if there is no ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
Israel says its bombardment of Gaza, coupled with a two-month total blockade, is an attempt to put pressure on Hamas to make concessions in ceasefire negotiations. Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and said it cannot continue to rule the enclave.
This is the second time this week that Netanyahu has faced backlash from the families of hostages. On Monday, his wife Sara was overheard on a microphone saying that “fewer” than 24 hostages are still alive in Gaza. The remark outraged families and prompted demands for clarity on what the government knows about their loved ones’ fate, as well as questions on why the prime minister’s wife has sensitive information about their loved ones that they do not.
“You sowed indescribable panic in the hearts of the families of the hostages – families already living in agonizing uncertainty,” the forum said in a statement. “If there is intelligence or new information regarding the condition of our loved ones, we demand full disclosure.”
Israel has publicly said in recent weeks that it believes up to 24 of the 59 remaining hostages are still alive. Sara Netanyahu’s claim appears to be an indication that the government may have information that some of the 24 hostages have died.
Pressure has also been mounting on Netanyahu from military reservists who have become increasingly vocal in their opposition to the war, with several public letters saying that the Gaza war mainly serves the political and personal interests of officials, not the country’s security interests.
Hip hop Irish trio Kneecap is being investigated by UK counter-terrorism police after videos emerged allegedly showing the band calling for politicians to be killed and shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”
It comes after the group, who are vocal critics of Israel’s war in Gaza, came under fire for their pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel messaging at the Coachella music festival last month.
The British police investigation follows widespread criticism of the band’s alleged comments, which led to several of their upcoming gigs being canceled. Some lawmakers are also calling for Glastonbury organizers to drop Kneecap from next month’s festival line-up.
Meanwhile, dozens of musicians and artists have signed an open letter supporting the group’s right to freedom of expression.
In recent days, footage has been circulating online that appears to show one of the group’s members shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” in November last year. Separately, video from November 2023 appeared to show one member of the group, who are from Northern Ireland, saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” Tory is another word for Conservative, and MP is an abbreviation of Member of Parliament. In the past decade, two British MPs – Jo Cox and David Amess – have been murdered.
Kneecap has apologized to the families of Cox and Amess. It said it has never supported Hamas or Hezbollah and that the footage circulating online has been “deliberately taken out of all context” as part of a “smear campaign” following their criticism of Israel and the United States in regards to the war in Gaza.
London’s Metropolitan Police Service said in a statement Thursday that it was aware of the footage and that counter-terrorism officers are investigating.
“Both videos were referred to the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit for assessment by specialist officers, who have determined there are grounds for further investigation into potential offences linked to both videos,” the police statement said.
Katie Amess, daughter of Conservative lawmaker David Amess, who was fatally stabbed in a 2021 attack while meeting with his constituents, has called Kneecap’s rhetoric “abhorrent.”
“(It) poses a direct threat to the safety and well-being of elected officials and the democratic institutions they represent,” she said in a statement provided to the PA Media news agency.
Amess commended the action taken by law enforcement and called for those who incite “violence and hatred” to be held accountable.
“As a society, we must stand united against all forms of extremism and ensure that our public spaces, including artistic and cultural venues, are not exploited to propagate messages of hate,” Amess said.
Both videos have been widely circulated online in wake of the band’s Coachella set, where they led the crowd to chant “Free Free Palestine,” criticized Israel’s campaign in Gaza – which has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to the ministry of health there – and also criticized US support for the war.
Brendan Cox, whose wife was stabbed and shot to death in 2016 by a far-right extremist while meeting with her constituents, told Sky News that the band’s apology was “not enough.”
“What’s clear (about the video) is that it wasn’t a joke, that it wasn’t out of context, that it was incitement to violence against members of parliament,” he said. Cox added that Kneecap’s comments “overstepped the mark in a frankly grotesque way,” putting them on the “wrong side of people who might agree with them” on issues, such as Gaza and Northern Ireland.
Since the videos emerged, a string of the band’s scheduled performances have been canceled.
The group said on X that it would not be performing at Hurricane or Southside Festival this year – two of Germany’s biggest music festivals – and announced three concerts in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne instead, which have since been canceled too.
Another concert scheduled to take place at the Eden Project in Cornwall, southwest England, has been canceled.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch told ITV News Wednesday she believes the band should be prosecuted for incitement. “There are people in jail for saying things that are not as bad as what Kneecap have said… they’ve been avoiding justice for far too long,” she told the broadcaster.
Others have come out in support of the group, with several artists signing an open letter calling out the “clear, concerted attempt to censor and ultimately deplatform” the band.
“In a democracy, no political figures or political parties should have the right to dictate who does and does not play at music festivals or gigs that will be enjoyed by thousands of people,” read the letter, which was signed by musicians including Pulp, Paul Weller and Massive Attack.
“Kneecap are not the story. Gaza is the story. Genocide is the story,” wrote the band on X, echoing a separate statement of support from Massive Attack.
Kneecap’s manager, Daniel Lambert, told Irish broadcaster RTÉ Tuesday that the controversy “has nothing to do with Kneecap… it’s about telling the next young band… that you cannot speak about Palestine.”
Ukraine managed to wrangle some more favorable terms out of the United States before signing the long-awaited minerals deal on Wednesday.
The agreement on natural resources was finally struck late on Wednesday, after weeks of tense bargaining that at times turned sour and temporarily halted Washington’s aid to Ukraine.
Kyiv eventually convinced US President Donald Trump to drop some of his key demands but failed to make American security guarantees part of the agreement.
Ukrainian officials touted the final accord as an equal partnership between Kyiv and Washington – a notable shift from some of the earlier drafts which were described by Ukraine’s leader President Volodymyr Zelensky as the US asking him to “sell my country.”
Aid: Crucially, the deal does not call for Kyiv to reimburse the US for the aid it has already received – a key concession from Trump who has long framed the agreement as Ukraine “paying back” the US.
Washington initially demanded a $500 billion share of Ukraine’s rare earths and other minerals in exchange for the aid it has already provided to Kyiv. When Zelensky rejected that idea, Trump called him “a dictator.”
Instead, the agreement that was inked on Wednesday says that future American military assistance to Ukraine will count as part of the US investment into a joint reconstruction investment fund that will be used to pour money into Ukraine’s natural resources.
Natural resources: The deal gives the US preferential rights to mineral extraction in Ukraine and states that Kyiv will have the final say in what and where is being mined. Ukraine will also retain the ownership of the subsoil.
“All resources on our territory and in our territorial waters belong to Ukraine. It is the Ukrainian state that determines where and what to extract,” said Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, who signed the deal on behalf her country.
And although Trump has referred to the agreement as a “rare earth” deal, the accord signed on Wednesday goes well beyond that by including other natural resources such as oil, natural gas, gold and copper.
The tone: In a win for Ukraine, the deal also adopts a strong language on the war with Russia itself. It points at Moscow as the aggressor in the conflict, diverging from some of Trump’s previous false statements about Ukraine and Zelensky being responsible for the war.
The deal also spells out the goal of the agreement as “a peaceful, sovereign and resilient Ukraine” – a notable step away from Trump saying earlier this year that, “Ukraine may be Russia some day.”
EU guarantees: It also keeps the door open for Ukraine’s potential future membership in the European Union, saying that investment needs to be made in accordance with Ukraine’s obligations as an EU candidate state. It adds that if Ukraine was to join the bloc in the future, this deal would be renegotiated “in good faith.”
A boost for the US: But the terms of the agreement also show the US has secured a host of advantages for itself.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent characterized it as a “historic economic partnership,” saying in a statement that it “signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.”
It also says that if a conflict arises between the wording of the agreement and Ukraine’s law, the deal will have a legal precedent.
Security questions: Ukraine has dropped its key demand that the US provides security guarantees as part of this agreement. It was this demand that ultimately led to the shouty meeting between Zelensky and Trump in the Oval Office in February.
Trump then refused to provide security guarantees, saying he wanted Ukraine to sign the agreement first and talk about guarantees later.
At the time, Zelensky refused, but Ukrainian officials have since indicated that they believe that US investment and the presence of American companies in Ukraine will make Washington more interested in Ukraine’s security.
Exclusive access for the US: While it ensures the US receives preferential access to Ukraine’s mineral riches, the deal doesn’t guarantee any exclusive rights.
Existing resources: The deal is limited to new projects, which means the US and Ukraine will have to invest in order to see profits. Existing mining operations that are already generating revenue for the Ukrainian government are excluded.
The Ukrainian government has in the past made the argument that its mineral deposits are one of the reasons the West should support Ukraine – to prevent these strategically important resources from falling into Russian hands.
Experts agree with that idea. Liam Peach and Hamad Hussain, economists at Capital Economics, wrote in an analyst note on Thursday that the agreement “provides some reassurance that the Trump administration is not planning on abandoning Ukraine altogether” because it establishes US economic interests in Ukraine.
Materials such as graphite, lithium, uranium and the 17 chemical elements known as rare earths are critical for economic growth and national security.
They are essential to the production of electronics, clean energy technology, including wind turbines, energy networks and electric vehicles, as well as some weapons systems.
China has long dominated the global production of rare earth minerals and other strategically important materials, leaving Western countries desperate for other alternative sources – including Ukraine.
The US largely depends on imports for the minerals it needs. Of the 50 minerals classed as critical, the US was entirely dependent on imports of 12 and more than 50% dependent on imports of a further 16, according to the United States Geological Survey, a government agency.
Ukraine, meanwhile, has deposits of 22 of these 50 critical materials, according to the Ukrainian government.
The country has some of the world’s largest deposits of graphite, lithium, titanium, beryllium and uranium, all of which are classed by the US as critical minerals. Some of these reserves are in areas that are currently under Russian occupation.
State prosecutors in Thailand announced Thursday that they don’t intend to press charges against an American academic arrested for royal defamation, an offense punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The arrest last month of Paul Chambers, a political science lecturer at Naresuan University in the northern province of Phitsanulok, had drawn concern from the academic community, especially from Asian studies scholars around the world, as well as the US government
The decision not to prosecute the 58-year-old Oklahoma native doesn’t immediately clear him of the charge of insulting the monarchy— also known as “lèse majesté” — or a related charge of violating the Computer Crime Act, which covers online activities.
The announcement said that the Phitsanulok provincial prosecutor will request the provincial court to drop the charges and forward the case file and nonprosecution order to the commissioner of Provincial Police Region 6, covering Phitsanulok, who may review and contest the decision.
Chambers, a 58-year-old Oklahoma native with a doctorate in political science from Northern Illinois University, was arrested in early April on a complaint made by the northern regional office of the army’s Internal Security Operations Command.
He has studied the power and influence of the Thai military, which plays a major role in politics. It has staged 13 coups since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy in 1932, most recently 11 years ago.
The army’s Internal Security Operations Command told a parliamentary inquiry that it filed the complaint based on a Facebook post that translated words from a website operated by ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, a think tank in Singapore, about a webinar on Thai politics that included Chambers as a participant.
Chambers’ supporters said that the blurb for the webinar, which was cited in his charge sheet as evidence, wasn’t written by him.
He had been jailed in April for two nights after reporting himself to the Phitsanulok police, and then granted release on bail, with several conditions, including wearing an ankle monitor. A court on Tuesday allowed him to take off the device.
Chambers’ visa was revoked at the time of his arrest on the basis of an immigration law barring entry to foreigners who are deemed likely to engage in activities contrary to public order or good morals, prostitution, people smuggling and drug trafficking. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the revocation will stand.
“This case reinforces our longstanding concerns about the use of lèse majesté laws in Thailand,” a US State Department statement said after Chambers’ arrest. ”We continue to urge Thai authorities to respect freedom of expression and to ensure that laws are not used to stifle permitted expression.”
Thailand’s lèse majesté law calls for three to 15 years imprisonment for anyone who defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir apparent or the regent. Critics say it’s among the harshest such laws anywhere and also has been used to punish critics of the government and the military.
The monarchy has long been considered a pillar of Thai society and criticizing it used to be strictly taboo. Conservative Thais, especially in the military and courts, still consider it untouchable.
However, public debate on the topic has grown louder in the past decade, particularly among young people, and student-led pro-democracy protests starting in 2020 began openly criticizing the institution.
That led to vigorous prosecutions under the previously little-used law. The legal aid group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights has said that since early 2020, more than 270 people — many of them student activists — have been charged with violating the law.
A Gaza “freedom flotilla” says one of its vessels is on fire and has issued an SOS, after what it claimed was a drone attack off the coast of Malta in international waters.
Acar said the ship had “sent out SOS calls to the surrounding countries, including Malta” and that a “small boat” from Southern Cyprus had been sent. She added she had been able to contact crew members after the SOS signal was sent out.
Video the coalition posted on its X account appeared to show a fire burning on a ship, as well as smoke. The sound of two loud explosions can also be heard in a separate video clip.
“Our vessel is 17 kilometers off the shores of Malta right now in international waters, and they have been subjected to a drone attack twice,” said Acar, adding that the generators at the front of the vessel were the apparent target.
“This boat, however, is not providing electricity that is needed on the vessel right now,” she said, saying the coalition was not able to contact the burning vessel.
“We have 30 international human rights activists on that vessel at this very moment on a vessel that is sinking,” said Acar.
The flotilla did not accuse any party of being behind the claimed drone attack.
Marine traffic websites list the ship Conscience as flying under Palau flag and show it was located off the eastern coast of Malta on Friday morning.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition describes itself on its website as an international network of pro-Palestinian activists working to end Israel’s blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave by taking direct, non-violent action.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The U.S. has not committed to participating in a fourth round of denuclearization talks with Iran this weekend despite reports to the contrary, according to the State Department.
‘The United States was never confirmed to be participating in a fourth round of talks with Iran, which people had believed were Saturday in Rome,’ spokesperson Tammy Bruce said at a news conference Thursday. ‘We expect another round of talks will take place in the near future.’
The U.S. participated in talks with Iranian officials once in Rome and twice in Oman. Envoy Steve Witkoff is the lead negotiator for President Donald Trump’s desired deal that stops Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi, whose nation is trying to help broker a deal, posted on X that the talks had been postponed for ‘logistical reasons.’
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, said Tehran is still committed to getting to a ‘fair and lasting agreement.’
Iran seeks to have U.S. sanctions lifted, while the Trump team has insisted it will need verifiable proof Iran has stopped enriching uranium to lift any financial penalties.
Trump has threatened to launch strikes on Iran if talks go sideways.
On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued an ominous threat to Iran over its backing of the Houthis.
‘Message to IRAN: We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing,’ Hegseth wrote on X. ‘You know very well what the U.S. Military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing.’
A U.S. official described last week’s talks as ‘positive and productive.’
‘There is still much to do, but further progress was made on getting to a deal,’ the official said. ‘We agreed to meet again soon, in Europe, and we thank our Omani partners for facilitating these talks.’
‘This time, the negotiations were much more serious than in the past, and we gradually entered into deeper and more detailed discussions,’ Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said. ‘We have moved somewhat away from broader, general discussions, though it is not the case that all disagreements have been resolved. Differences still exist both on major issues and on the details.’
The Associated Press contributed to this report.