Welcome back to our weekly update. I'm Charlotte Mloud with investingnews.com and we're going to run through a few of this week's biggest stories in the mining industry. If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to hit the like button, subscribe to our channel, and of course, leave us a comment below. Let's get into it. It was a slow start to the week for gold, but it didn't take long for the price to pick up. The yellow metal began the period at the 3220 per ounce level, but was gaining steam by May 20th.


briefly breaking 3,300. It continued higher the next day, touching 3340 before pulling back to just below 3,300. Bond market turmoil is one factor that's been influencing gold's price movements. A May 21st auction of 20-year bonds was poorly received with yields surging past 5.1% to reach the highest level seen since November 2023. Yields for 10-year and 30-year bonds were also on the rise with the latter nearing a two decade high. The upheaval in bonds came on the back of US President Donald Trump's efforts to get


the one big beautiful bill through the House. Slowing the passage of the wide-ranging domestic policy package were concerns that Trump's plan to cut taxes would significantly increase US debt, which currently stands at a whopping 36 trillion. Last week's downgrade of US debt from Moody's also didn't help bonds. The agency bumped its rating down from AAA, its highest ranking, to AA1, which is one step lower. saying it expects even larger deficits in the US in the coming decade. I asked Rick Rule of Rural Investment


Media for his thoughts on the downgrade. And unsurprisingly, he thought Moody's was actually too generous. Here's what he said. Well, the United States is lucky that I'm not reviewing their debt. Uh, Charlotte, you know, I'm a veteran lender and the idea that my borrower, the United States government, has a deteriorating balance sheet and a deteriorating income statement, would not be helpful to me. I think that Moody's made a polite point by saying that there is political stasis


around the United States in some fashion that uh works against uh fiscal solvency in the United States. The Moody's statement, if you read it, was extraordinarily generous. It talked about the onbalance sheet liabilities of the US government, which stands at 36 trillion, and the expanding government deficit of $2 trillion annually. It talked in passing uh about the fact that the recent Trump budget, far from being smaller, projected the fourth largest quarterly deficit in history and raised


the debt ceiling. It's no surprise that Moody said that underlying trends with regards to the credit quality of the United States uh are not adequate. We'll be posting the full interview with Rick over the weekend, so stay tuned for that. In addition to current events, he discusses gold, silver, uranium, and oil and gas. Going back to the one big beautiful bill, it ultimately passed on May 22nd by a very slim margin with 215 votes in favor and 214 against. It will now proceed to the Senate. Contained in the bill are tax


cut extensions for both individuals and corporations, as well as provisions for removing taxes on tips and overtime, among other points. It also allows for tax deductions on Americanmade vehicles and offers Trump savings accounts for newborns. It cuts funding to initiatives like Medicaid and SNAP. In terms of its impact, preliminary analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, which is a nonpartisan organization, suggests that the bill will increase the federal deficit by 3.8 trillion during the 2026


to 2034 period. A note from the European Central Bank turned heads this week with the suggestion that certain dynamics could make the gold market a threat to financial stability. Here's a key excerpt from the report. While gold prices are driven by many factors, investors showed a high demand for gold as a safe haven asset. And at the beginning of 2025, a notable preference for gold futures contracts to be settled physically. These dynamics hint at investors expectations that geopolitical risks and policy uncertainty could


remain elevated or even intensify in the foreseeable future. Should extreme events materialize, there could be adverse effects on financial stability arising from gold markets. I'll leave a link to the full ECB report in the video description. It's definitely worth reading the whole thing if you had the time. Gold's high price hasn't deterred buyers in China. New Customs data from the country shows that April imports clocked in at 127.5 metric tonses, an 11-month high. That's also a 73%


increase from the previous month, according to Bloomberg. The news outlet notes that China's central bank controls the flow of gold in and out of the country. So, the strong increase is likely the result of fresh quotas given to some commercial banks. Thank you for watching. If you like this video, make sure you hit the like button and subscribe to our channel. We'd also love to hear your thoughts, so leave us a comment below. [Music]