Precious metals have tumbled since war broke out in the Persian Gulf. In today’s post, I run through various explanations for what’s going on. There’s three theories that are doing the rounds in markets. First, the crazy run-up in precious metals before the war no doubt sucked in lots of retail investors who didn’t trade things like gold before. It’s reasonable to think that this broader investor base may change how precious metals trade, making them behave more like risk assets rather than safe haven assets. That’s consistent with gold selling off on oil price spikes and rallying - in the last day or two - on ... (full story)