Finance

Trump says his administration will check Fort Knox ‘to make sure the gold is there’

Published

2 days ago

February 20, 2025

Business Finance News

Alamos Gold CEO John McCluskey on record production, 2025 outlook

President Donald Trump said his administration is going to audit the U.S. gold reserves kept at Fort Knox in Kentucky.

“We’re going to go to Fort Knox, the fabled Fort Knox, to make sure the gold is there,” President Trump said Wednesday on Air Force One.

A drive to audit Fort Knox has gained steam from comments by Elon Musk on X recently. Over the past few decades, conspiracy theories have emerged from time to time about whether the government is being truthful about the amount of gold stored there because of the fort’s high security.

The Treasury Department gives the exact amounts of the U.S. gold reserves on its website and says there are 147,341,858.382 troy ounces in Fort Knox.

“I think if this administration presses for an audit, that’ll be a good thing for everybody,” said Alamos Gold CEO John McCluskey on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday.

Gold futures, 1 year

Treasury Secretary Bessent’s comments from earlier this month, to “monetize the asset side of the U.S. balance sheet for the American people” also added to recent investor speculation that the U.S. government should audit its gold reserves and perhaps revalue them. The Treasury Department’s current gold holdings are priced at $42 per ounce, a level that is set by law and hasn’t changed since 1973.

Spot gold on Thursday rose, hitting another record high of $2,954.69 earlier in the session. That’s bullion’s tenth record high of the year.

Finance

Steve Cohen says tariffs and DOGE’s cuts are negative for economy, market correction could be soon

Published

13 hours ago

February 21, 2025

Business Finance News

Steve Cohen, chairman and CEO of Point72, speaking to CNBC on April 3, 2024.

CNBC

Billionaire investor Steve Cohen doubled down on his negative view of the U.S. economy due to a backdrop of punitive tariffs, immigration crackdown and federal spending cuts spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency.

The chairman and CEO of hedge fund Point72 said he turned bearish for the first time in a while after President Donald Trump’s aggressive trade policy made him worry about inflationary pressures and lower consumer spending. Meanwhile, his tough stance on immigration could mean a constrained supply of labor, he said.

“Tariffs cannot be positive, okay? I mean, it’s a tax,” Cohen said Friday at the FII Priority Summit in Miami Beach, Fla. “On top of that, we have slowing immigration, which means the labor force will not grow as rapidly as … the last five years and so.”

The prominent hedge fund investor took a stab at DOGE’s cost-cutting moves led by Elon Musk, saying they could only hurt the economy more. Musk has said his goal is to cut federal spending by $2 trillion.

“When that money has been coursing through the economy over many years, and now, potentially it will be reduced or stopped in many ways, has got to be negative for the economy,” Cohen said.

Cohen believes a pullback in the stock market could be likely given the uncertain macroeconomic environment. He sees the U.S. economy growth to slow down to 1.5% from 2.5% in the second half of the year.

“I think we’re seeing the regime shift a little bit. It may only last a year or so, but it’s definitely a period where I think the best gains have been had and wouldn’t surprise me to see a significant correction,” Cohen said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a disaster.”