Before the bell: Gold and silver continue to provide spectacle

The earnings season is causing sharp swings on Wall Street, while prices for precious metals have also proved highly volatile. Once again, this week brings a long list of corporate results.

Precious metals corrected sharply on Friday. A widely cited reason was news that Donald Trump is likely to appoint Kevin Warsh as the next chair of the Federal Reserve. This is seen as a relatively market-friendly choice. Equity markets meanwhile continued to follow the pattern that also dominated in 2025. Investors remain enthusiastic about everything related to artificial intelligence, but they are judging developments at the companies involved very critically. That is how Microsoft’s exceptionally strong quarterly results could still be met with a 10% share price drop, while Meta’s figures were rewarded with a 10% rally. The difference: both companies are investing heavily in AI, but investors believe Meta is translating those investments more directly into profits than Microsoft. Another difference is that Microsoft has signed massive contracts with OpenAI (ChatGPT), whose underlying fundamentals are increasingly being questioned. The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Nvidia has doubts about its collaboration with OpenAI, although Nvidia says it will still participate in the funding round. OpenAI is planning an IPO this year. We are watching with interest.

This morning in Asia, the gold price is down another 5%. Equity markets are also under heavy pressure. The Hang Seng index is down nearly 3%. It will be a busy week for earnings, with major names such as Palantir and Walt Disney reporting today on Wall Street. Later in the week, results are expected from Xior, AMD, AkzoNobel, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Alphabet, Melexis, Novo Nordisk, Arm, Infineon, Uber, Eli Lilly, Amazon, BNP Paribas, X-Fab, Wereldhave Belgium, Lotus Bakeries, and many more.

Gold and silver keep shining

After a very strong 2025, gold, silver and metals in general got off to a flying start this year. On Friday, however, prices dropped sharply. Gold lost 9% and silver even fell by 28%. Even so, gold is still around 90% higher than a year ago, while silver is up as much as 260%. Even if the decline continues today, that says little about where precious metals will ultimately settle. After such a strong rally, speculators tend to increase volatility. On Friday, the possible appointment of an acceptable successor to Jerome Powell at the Fed was seized upon as an excuse to sell precious metals and lock in substantial gains. At such moments, short sellers also jump in aggressively, because as experienced investors know, sharp declines and powerful rallies are often two sides of the same coin. The same applies to equities, where the biggest daily moves often occur after steep sell-offs. None of this says much about the eventual equilibrium level for precious metals. But unless geopolitics were to move quickly into calmer waters, we continue to expect gold prices to remain elevated. In that scenario, profits at gold mining companies would rise sharply, although their share prices are notoriously volatile. On gold miners: De Week van Jan No. 69 – Spaarvarkens.be.

Gains for low-valued real estate

Belgium’s leading logistics real estate group WDP (+3.4%) was rewarded on Friday for the strong annual results it published, as it does every year. As usual, WDP also outlined the growth path it has already prepared for the coming years. Between now and 2030, the group plans to invest 500 million euro per year. This should translate into annual growth of 6% and earnings of 2 euro per share in five years’ time. It is not yet clear how much additional capital WDP may need to raise from shareholders to achieve this. There are also some questions about slow growth in Germany, while CEO Joost Uwents also mentioned Spain and Italy as potential new markets. Notably, unlike highly valued stocks, WDP’s share price can absorb a few points of criticism. According to Christian Floru, Spaarvarkens’ real estate specialist, WDP is even trading at a slight discount to its net asset value: Aandelenlijst_GVVs – Spaarvarkens.be. Christian also appeared on last Saturday’s episode of Spamalot.

Did you know…

that French IT group Capgemini wants to sell its US subsidiary immediately? That subsidiary signed a contract with ICE, the controversial US immigration agency, putting Capgemini under heavy criticism in France.