Gold and Silver prices stalled with Gold down 5% in the past 5 days at $6069 CAD and down 13.75% month over month. Silver is down 21% this month and down 6.5% from the last 5 days now $94.22 CAD. Silver is still up 99% Year over Year. US Dollar index DXY is up 0.5% this week at 99.92 and down 4% YOY. SP500 Volatility Index VIX rose 12%. SP 500 ES futures fell 2% and are now trading 6525 having failed to trade above 7000 for the 6th consecutive week this year. The Dow Jones 30 is below 50,000.
Last Wednesday, March 18, 2026, the Federal Reserve voted 11-1 to hold interest rates steady at a 3.5%–3.75% range, war driven inflation remains a risk..
On Wednesday of this week, France’s Finance Minister Roland Lescure revealed that 30-40% of Gulf oil refining capacity has been destroyed.
Physical Oil is trading $30-70 above the Futures in some areas, according to Chief Strategy Officer at Carlyle Energy Pathways, Jeff Currie.
Crude WTI futures are down 1% at $94.48 and now up 38% YOY. On March 2, 2026, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officially declared the strait closed. The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s most critical oil chokepoint, facilitating the transit of approximately 20% of global oil consumption as of early 2026.
NYMEX NG natural gas futures which spiked over 100% above $7 in January are now trading $2.99 USD per Million BTU.
Crypto is consolidating , having rallied back with BTC down 1% this week to $69,100 and ETH down 3% at $2070. The crypto crash originally started on Oct. 10 when Trump threatened to impose an extra 100% tariff on Chinese imports
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Ai powered Government Contractor Palantir is down 5% - PLTR currently trades at $147.56, and up 58% YOY after falling from a 52 week high of 207.52. NVDA is down 4% in the past 5 days at $171.24 despite trading up to $197.62 following their announcement of record quarterly revenue and record full year revenue up 65%.
On Tuesday Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang appeared on the Lex Fridman podcast and stated that Artificial General Intelligence is currently capable of creating and managing a $1 Billion dollar company. Jensen was clear, “I think it’s now. I think we’ve achieved AGI.”
S&P AeroSpace and Defense ETF XAR fell 3.75% in the past 5 days to $257.03 after making a new All Time High of 295.23 on Monday following the assasination of the Iranian Supreme Leader. XAR is up 60% in the past 12 months.
Weekly Jobless Claims were up 5000 at 210,000 for the week ending March 14th.
Last week Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated that “Job creation is near zero”
The Gold/Silver ratio rose 1% now at 63.31 up from a low this year of 43.52 after falling steadily since late October and from its March high of 107. Longer 20 yr and 30 yr US government bonds are flat at 4.96 and 4.93% respectively.
In the response to Iranian war fuelled inflation risk the likelihood of any interest rate cuts have slumped. The Polymarket quoted probability of a total 0 bps in cuts rose to 39.6%, where 75 bps in cuts in 2026 stands at 9%, the probability of 50 bps is 17% and the probability of 25 bps is 24%. Short term rates are up 21 bps in the 2yr at 3.91.
US Comex Copper Futures HG, a leading indicator of economic growth, fell 1% to $5.48 usd/lb after hitting a new all time high in January of $6.58 usd/lb.