🌍 Worldwide Markets – Episode 664

📅 Recorded: Tuesday midday | 🎙️ Host: Simon Brown

This week on Worldwide Markets, we unpack a wild ride across commodities, central banks, tech titans, and global trade — with gold stealing the spotlight once again.

🟡 Has Gold Bottomed?

Gold went vertical — and then snapped back hard.

• 📈 Ran from around $4,300 → $5,600, before a brutal sell-off

• 📉 Dropped to $4,600, now stabilising near $4,900

• 🕯️ That giant red "kangaroo tail" candle looks ugly — but…

The bigger picture hasn't changed:

• 💵 Debasement trade still intact

• 🌍 Central banks bought ~800 tonnes last year

• 🏦 ETF investors were big buyers again after selling in 2024

➡️ Verdict: Likely consolidation, not collapse. Sideways is the base case.

Gold |Weekly | 03 February 2026

🧱 Commodities Ran Too Hot

It wasn't just gold:

• 🔩 Copper, silver, platinum, palladium all surged

• 🛢️ Brent crude nearly hit $70

• 🪨 Aluminium hit US record prices, creating transatlantic arbitrage

Nothing goes straight up forever — profit-taking was inevitable.

🪙 What About Silver?

Simon stays honest here:

• ❓ Industrial demand and price dislocations matter

• ⚠️ But silver remains complex and opaque

💡 Portfolio stance:

• ✅ Holding gold miners

• ✅ Holding gold ETFs (local & offshore)

• ❌ No silver exposure — and comfortable with that

🏦 Fed Drama: Enter Steve Walsh

Trump's Fed chair nominee spooked markets — but context matters:

• 🔄 Walsh is not a hawk, more a rate flip-flopper

• 🗳️ Previously opposed rate cuts… until Trump won

• 📉 Trump wants lower rates — Walsh says he'll deliver

The challenge?

• 🧠 Convincing the rest of the FOMC

• 🪑 Jerome Powell still has influence for now

➡️ Expect noise, not an instant policy pivot.

🚀 SpaceX + xAI = Trillion-Dollar IPO?

Big Elon energy this week:

• 🛰️ SpaceX acquires xAI

• 🧠 Grok + data + power + space = big ambitions

• 📊 IPO rumoured for mid-2026

• 💰 Valuation likely north of $1 trillion

Simon likes SpaceX… less excited by the social-media side.

🚗 SA Vehicle Sales: Still Strong

January numbers surprised again:

• 📊 Sales near levels last seen in 2019 / early 2022

• 🏆 Toyota leads, but Chinese brands keep climbing

• 🇨🇳 Chery, GWM, JAC & friends reshaping the market

Consumers are still buying — despite high rates.

🤝 US–India Trade "Peace"… Sort Of

A deal was announced, but details are fuzzy:

• 📉 Tariffs reduced (somewhat)

• 🛢️ India supposedly to stop buying Russian oil (👀)

• 💸 India to buy $500bn of US goods (timeline unclear)

History lesson:

• 🌮 Trump tariff threats turn real only ~20% of the time

• ⚖️ Supreme Court still deciding if Trump even has the authority

➡️ Lots of headlines, fewer guarantees.

🎓 Upcoming Event: Power Hour

📅 19 February 📍 Rosebank (in-person) + webcast 💡 Topic: Tax-Free Investing & ETFs

👉 Book at justonelap.com/events

👋 Closing Thoughts

Markets are noisy, emotional, and fast — but the big-picture trends still matter more than the candles.

Until next week: 🤍 Look after yourself 🤍 And if you can, look after someone else too

Cheers! 🍻

Simon Brown

* I hold ungeared positions.

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