The Only "Trump Safe" Asset

Outperform the S&P 500 by three-fold and sleep well at night during periods of high anxiety.

“The only currency still used as a store of value after 5,000 years is gold.” – Martin Truax.

Gold and uncertainty are the closest of friends.

When fear and chaos rule the day… as has been the case for the past several weeks… gold does well.

So, it’s probably no surprise that in 2025, gold is once again setting new all-time highs.

Physical gold is a safe haven.

Protection against the unforeseen.

But the price of gold is tied to geopolitical events. Year in and year out, we see how small the world is as gold prices soar and collapse on international events.

Well, with U.S. President Donald Trump engaging in a global trade war and firing off tit-for-tat and zig-zagging tariffs, markets have crumbled under his volatile first 81 days in office.

“Liberation Day” was a bloodbath.

Walking back those additional tariffs triggered a classic bear market face-ripping rally. (Almost all of the best one-day performances on the S&P 500 have taken place during bear markets.)

His policies and actions are so unsettling that Berenberg Bank’s chief economist Holger Schmieding has dubbed Trump, “an agent of chaos.”

That means gold might just be an investor’s best friend – once again – with Trump sitting in the White House.

Shimmering Brighter than Gold

U.S. equities have been in a tailspin since setting new all-time highs in February.

Small caps on the Russell 2000 and tech stocks on the Nasdaq have collapsed into bear markets. The S&P 500 briefly fell below 5,000 and dipped its toes into bear market territory as well.

Tech stocks have imploded as the Magnificent 7 have collapsed into bear markets themselves. Tesla (TSLA) shares have been cut nearly in half as Elon Musk’s moves at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have triggered scores of Americans to dump their EVs.

The world’s wealthiest man has seen his net worth crumble in 2025 as Tesla’s market cap has fallen by nearly $800 billion.

But savvy investors embarrassed by the new lows in American democracy have piled into an asset that thrives on volatility… gold.

In fact, monthly inflows into physical gold backed exchange traded funds (ETFs) have surged to a new all-time high. To kick off March, there were $306 billion in total assets under management (AUM) as total physical holdings of gold rose to 3,353 tons.

In the first quarter, these ETFs drew the largest quarterly inflow in three years.

And during that span, gold has skyrocketed, setting new all-time highs.

The SPDR Gold ETF (GLD) is closing in on $300 today.

Meanwhile, gold miner ETFs, like the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) and its junior miner counterpart the VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ) have outperformed physical gold, the GLD and U.S. equities.

Remember, shares of precious metal miners tend to rise faster than the price of the physical metal… though they also fall harder when precious metal prices decline.

But you take the good with the bad.

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Now, gold pays no dividend and offers no yield.

This is always the knock against the precious metal. Holding gold means you’re only betting your investment increases through price appreciation.

It’s really a hedge against disaster and a play on the ever-weakening U.S. dollar.

And gold bugs love gold precisely for the moments we’re in now.

The precious metal is currently trading above $3,250 per ounce. A truly staggering figure.

But here’s the best-kept secret of gold bugs…

Since the start of 2001, the S&P is up 296.6%.

The Nasdaq has rallied more than 559.91%.

Those are great returns, driven by phenomenal individual performances such as Nvidia, Tesla, Netflix, Apple, Meta Platforms and others.

Well, during that same span gold has more than tripled the return of the S&P.

That’s right.

It’s soared over 1,000%!

This is why we call gold a long-term store of value… And it has been for much of human history.

But important of all at this moment, gold appears to be the one asset perfectly positioned to deliver gains as an “agent of chaos” sits in the White House.

So, if you want some security – as well as some protection – from the markets current whipsawing action, there are few better places to park cash than in gold.

The precious metal is beating equities so far in 2025.

It’s beaten the performance of stocks over the past year.

And it’s more than tripled the return of the S&P 500 over the past 25 years.

Hoarding gold,
Matthew