The recent increase in gold prices in the United States and around the world has been driven by a confluence of economic, financial, and political factors.  This environment, where gold has outperformed U.S. GDP and the four major U.S. stock markets, began in 2000 and has continued to date (see Exhibits 1, 2, 3).  We outline 13 reasons why gold has outperformed most major investments and why it is likely to continue attracting individual and institutional investors.  1. A haven during uncertain times. Throughout history, people —…

Central Asian neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine war is undergoing a not-so-subtle shift. Neutrality for Central Asian states during the first three-plus years of the conflict meant keeping Russia happy by keeping Kyiv at arm’s length. But now, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are showing greater willingness to openly engage with Ukrainian leaders. On September 23 at the UN General Assembly, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev became the first Central Asian leader since the start of the war in 2022 to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. …

A decade-long effort to make the shipping industry the first to adopt binding international emissions targets has fallen apart—this time not over science or technology, but timing and cost. The breakdown leaves oil demand from marine fuels largely untouched for now, a relief to refiners and traders watching for signs of a forced pivot toward costly biofuels or ammonia blends. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) meeting in London this week was meant to finalize a framework first agreed in April, setting out how shipowners would transition…

The total number of active drilling rigs for oil and gas in the United States rose this week, according to new data that Baker Hughes published on Friday. The total rig count in the US rose this week to 548, according to Baker Hughes, down 37 from this same time last year. The number of active oil stayed the same in the reporting period, according to the data, at 418. Year over year, this represents a 64-rig decline. The number of gas rigs rose by 1 to 121 active rigs, which is 22 over this time last year. The miscellaneous rig count stayed the…

Governments and policy makers need to pay more attention to hydropower as a major source of low-emission flexible power generation in the age of booming electricity demand, Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said on Friday. Hydropower “remains the forgotten giant of electricity,” Birol wrote in a LinkedIn post, calling for greater role for the “forgotten” clean energy source in the global electricity systems. Hydropower accounted for about 14% of total global electricity supply…

Governments and policy makers need to pay more attention to hydropower as a major source of low-emission flexible power generation in the age of booming electricity demand, Fatih Birol, the executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said on Friday. Hydropower “remains the forgotten giant of electricity,” Birol wrote in a LinkedIn post, calling for greater role for the “forgotten” clean energy source in the global electricity systems. Hydropower accounted for about 14% of total global electricity supply…

A growing glut of oil and fear of a global economic slowdown have pushed U.S. crude prices to their lowest point in five years. Friday, October 17, 2025The re-imposition of US import tariffs on China and the concurrent promise of a Trump-Putin summit in Budapest have further depressed oil sentiment, sending ICE Brent to 61 per barrel as most of the past years’ geopolitical risk premium has dissipated. Higher-than-expected US oil inventory builds have added to fears of there being more crude than 2025 levels of demand would require, implying…

The biggest refinery in the Midwest, BP’s Whiting facility, had multiple units offline on Friday, market sources told Reuters, quoting data from energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.  The refinery was also actively flaring early on Friday, according to one of Reuters’ sources.  The Whiting, Indiana refinery “experienced a fire that was put out and was actively flaring with alarms heard in vicinity last night,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said on Friday.  The still unknown issue at…

The biggest refinery in the Midwest, BP’s Whiting facility, had multiple units offline on Friday, market sources told Reuters, quoting data from energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.  The refinery was also actively flaring early on Friday, according to one of Reuters’ sources.  The Whiting, Indiana refinery “experienced a fire that was put out and was actively flaring with alarms heard in vicinity last night,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said on Friday.  The still unknown issue at…

The biggest refinery in the Midwest, BP’s Whiting facility, had multiple units offline on Friday, market sources told Reuters, quoting data from energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.  The refinery was also actively flaring early on Friday, according to one of Reuters’ sources.  The Whiting, Indiana refinery “experienced a fire that was put out and was actively flaring with alarms heard in vicinity last night,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said on Friday.  The still unknown issue at…

Friedrich Merz has called for the creation of a pan-European stock exchange in a move that would help it compete with Asian and US counterparts and eclipse the liquidity offered on London’s ailing bourse. In an address to parliament in Berlin, the German Chancellor said European businesses need a “sufficiently broad and deep European capital market so they can finance themselves better and faster. “It is crucial for the future of our country and our countries in Europe that we fulfil these tasks with renewed vigour,” Merz…

India hasn’t requested refiners to cut imports of Russian crude oil and no cuts have been seen for the already placed nominations for loadings in November, Indian industry sources told Reuters on Friday, after the U.S. claimed refiners had stared to reduce Russian supply.  U.S.-Indian talks in Washington this week were productive and Indian refiners are already halving crude oil imports from Russia, a White House official told Reuters on Thursday. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that India had agreed to cut imports…

India hasn’t requested refiners to cut imports of Russian crude oil and no cuts have been seen for the already placed nominations for loadings in November, Indian industry sources told Reuters on Friday, after the U.S. claimed refiners had stared to reduce Russian supply.  U.S.-Indian talks in Washington this week were productive and Indian refiners are already halving crude oil imports from Russia, a White House official told Reuters on Thursday. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that India had agreed to cut imports…

US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, have agreed to meet in Budapest following a phone call held a day before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is due to visit Washington. "We agreed that there will be a meeting of our High Level Advisors, next week... President Putin and I will then meet in an agreed upon location, Budapest, Hungary," Trump wrote on his Truth Social page on October 16. Trump added that the meeting in Budapest is "to see if we can bring this 'inglorious' War, between Russia and Ukraine, to…

Venture Global has written to its long-term contract partners in the Plaquemines LNG plant to assure them it will not sell LNG on the spot market before honoring these contracts, the Financial Times has reported, citing fears of contract breaches. Plaquemines clients fear a repeat of what Venture Global did with its first LNG plan, in Calcasieu Pass, where it delayed the official commissioning of the facility for years, while selling LNG produced there on the spot market. The move, made possible by a legal loophole that allowed Venture Global to…

Crude oil prices are set for another weekly decline today, after President Trump announced there were plans to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in a couple of weeks to discuss an end to the war in the Ukraine. The hypothetical possibility of peace has ha traders prepare for a rebound in Russia oil exports, which would add to what most observers are calling a looming supply glut. This pressured prices further, after the IEA updated its glut prediction, now expecting the supply overhang to reach 2.4 million barrels daily in 2026, after adding…

After years of currency chaos and regulatory paralysis that drove oil majors out of Argentina, President Javier Milei has set out to remake the country into a regional energy powerhouse. His sweeping deregulation freed up oil exports, attracted foreign capital, and revived activity in Vaca Muerta, one of the world’s largest shale formations. Yet the path to energy independence remains fragile. Falling oil prices, rising costs, and unfinished infrastructure threaten to stall progress, while the peso’s stability now depends on unprecedented…

The U.S. nuclear sector has been on a tear over the past couple of years, fueled by the global energy crisis, the clean energy revolution, and the AI boom, even as global electricity demand soars. Meanwhile, the uranium market is experiencing a structural supply deficit, creating potential challenges for nuclear operators. Unlike many commodities, uranium trading usually involves small volumes with specialized participants, making the nuclear fuel susceptible to significant uranium market volatility. Governments across the globe are repositioning…

Since President Trump took office, several associations set up to advance the agenda of net-zero in the financial world have dissolved, wind and solar developers have pleaded for help to survive, and carmakers have quietly revised their plans for an electric future—not only in the U.S. Some, however, believe Trump’s presidency cannot stop the shift to alternative energy sources and emission-cutting. Many have, in fact, been saying that whatever happens in the United States, the rest of the world would remain firmly on the path to decarbonisation…

It is said that in times of great division, a common enemy can be a force for unification. And that common enemy has arrived, in the form of energy-sucking data centers and their wholesale attack on energy prices. As the artificial intelligence boom continues to pick up speed, massive data center projects are being greenlit left and right, and the communities expected to foot the bill for this expansion are starting to fight back — even if it means reaching across the aisle.  While political debates over data centers are not yet cropping…