While the cryptocurrency prices dropped toward the end of the week, precious metals, energy stocks, and global commodities skyrocketed in value amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. The price of one ounce fine gold is nearing the $2K mark, benchmark coal prices have been surging, aluminum values broke records and nickel tapped an 11-year high.
Metals and Oil Markets Climb, Elon Musk Insists ‘Extraordinary Times Call for Extraordinary Measures’
Stock markets fell on Friday as the Nasdaq, NYSE, S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day in the red. The conflict in Ukraine continues to rattle investors unsure of how to deal with a wartime market.
Moreover, after cryptocurrency markets did well last week, the end of this week turned out to be a different story, as the global market valuation of the entire crypto-economy slipped below the $2 trillion mark. At the time of writing on Saturday, March 5, the crypto economy is hovering just above $1.85 trillion in USD value.
Gold, on the other hand, is up 1.76% per 0.999 fine ounce in the past 24 hours, and 0.999 fine ounce of silver is up 2.37% today. Gold, a precious metal, has done well amid the conflict in Ukraine, and over the past 30 days an ounce of gold has jumped 7.25% in USD value. On March 4, the Economist and Gold Bug Peter Schiff tweeted about gold rising in value with oil prices.
“Today both gold and oil are at record highs priced in euros,” Schiff said. “For years the ECB was complaining that inflation in the Eurozone was too low. They were committed to solving that non-existent problem. Well, congratulations ECB, now you’ve got a real problem to solve,” Schiff added.
Gold isn’t the only commodity to get special treatment from global investors this week. For example, reports show that benchmark coal prices have climbed 46% in Asia, reaching their highest value since 2008. Over the past few days, aluminum values have hit record highs and nickel has jumped up to 5.6% this week.
Copper’s price smashed an all-time high on Friday, and the price of zinc skyrocketed to a 15 year high. In certain regions of the world, electric prices have risen dramatically and electric vehicle (EV) stocks have started to rise. While EV stocks may see a bigger rise and Tesla could gather more gains, Tesla’s Elon Musk tweeted about increasing oil and gas output. Close to half a million people liked the tweet when Musk said:
“I hate to say it, but we need to raise oil [and] gas outlet immediately. Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. musk further added:
Obviously, this would negatively affect Tesla, but sustainable energy solutions simply cannot react instantaneously to make up for Russian oil [and] gas exports.
Besides EV stocks, precious metals and specific commodities, a large majority of everything else in stocks shivered in value towards the end of the week. Specific and well-known brand companies such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola is criticized on social networks to always operate within the borders of Russia. In addition, many reports note that “recession signals are surfacing” and this weekend some investors are expecting another dip on Monday.
