Weekly Portfolio Update, October 15 2023

Chaos is bad for everything -- except precious metals

With the world descending into chaos and actual US Senators calling for the bombing of Iranian oil refineries, gold did its safe haven thing, jumping by $60/oz on Friday. In the following chart, Friday is the green line, with the other lines showing the prior two days’ more placid action. Looks like no one wanted to be unhedged going into the weekend.

Here’s CNBC’s take:

Safe-haven gold rallies over 3% as Middle East conflict intensifies

Gold prices jumped more than 3% on Friday and were poised for their best week in seven months as the intensifying conflict in the Middle East sent investors scurrying for safe-haven assets.

Zero-yield bullion got an additional fillip from expectations that the U.S. interest rates may have peaked.

Spot gold was last up 3.24% at $1,929.2194 per ounce. U.S. gold futures settled 3.1% higher at $1,941.50. Prices were up 5.2% for the week.