Elon Musk heads to Fort Knox as gold smuggling | International Market Information
Hey, Elon, put down the chainsaw — you’ll be able to go to Fort Knox.Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, acquired the group roaring on the latest Conservative Political Motion Convention when he wielded a transportable energy software introduced to him by Argentine President Javier Milei, the Related Press reported.💵💰Do not miss the transfer: Subscribe to TheStreet’s free every day publication 💰💵The chainsaw was engraved with Milei’s slogan, “Viva la libertad, carajo” — Spanish for “Long live liberty, damn it” — and it’s pretty much emblematic of what the Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is doing on Capitol Hill.Musk may want to leave the chainsaw home when he visits Fort Knox to see if America’s gold reserves are still there.“We’re going to open up the doors,” President Donald Trump mentioned in a speech to Republican governors, based on CBS Information. “We’re going to inspect Fort Knox. I don’t want to open it, and the cupboards are bare.”Previous Mom Hubbard apart, Musk has been posting on his X social media platform and questioning whether or not there’s certainly gold in that Military post in Kentucky.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has raised questions concerning the gold provide at Fort KnoxPATRICK PLEUL/Getty Photographs
Treasury Secretary: gold current and accounted for“Who is confirming that gold wasn’t stolen from Fort Knox?” the Tesla (TSLA) CEO mentioned. “Maybe it’s there, maybe it’s not. That gold is owned by the American public! We want to know if it’s still there.”Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has mentioned there’s an annual audit and that “all the gold is present and accounted for.”Extra 2025 stock market forecasts
According to the U.S. Mint, current gold holdings at the US Bullion Depository at Fort Knox are 147.3 million ounces. About half of the Treasury’s stored gold is kept at Fort Knox.The first gold arrived at Fort Knox in 1937. The 1st Cavalry Regiment was called on to guard the shipment.In 1974, the US Mint opened the vaults to a group of journalists and a congressional delegation so they could see the gold reserves. The Treasury secretary allowed the visit after persistent rumors that the gold had been removed. Until then, the only person other than authorized personnel to access the vaults was President Franklin D. Roosevelt.Gold prices have been soaring to record levels recently and were trading around $2,939 per ounce at last check.Goldman Sachs analysts boosted their year-end price target for the precious metal 7.3% to $3,100 an ounce from $2,890. The firm said gold is a great hedge against tariff escalation, which is a major part of Trump’s agenda.The administration has implemented 10% across-the-board tariffs on all Chinese goods and announced 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, with no exceptions.If you’re searching for your own pot of gold, you’ll be able to buy shares in corporations concerned in gold manufacturing, or buy gold funds, or a gold futures contract, or you might need to stock up the actual McCoy and buy bodily gold.However there are these people who’re selecting to nail down their nuggets by smuggling. And their numbers are rising.Billions in gold smuggled out of AfricaOn Feb 21, a girl, described as a U.S.-based, non-resident Indian, and her teenaged daughter had been reportedly stopped at an airport in Mumbai after officers discovered roughly $560,000 in gold hid within the lady’s jacket. Billions of {dollars} in gold is smuggled out of Africa every year. Most of it ends up within the United Arab Emirates, based on a research final yr by Swissaid, an support and development group based mostly in Switzerland.Associated: Goldman Sachs points shocking gold price goal for 2025Roughly 321 to 474 tonnes — a metric tonne is 1,000 kilograms — of artisanal gold are produced in Africa every year with out being declared, which interprets to a worth of between $24 billion and $35 billion and between 72% and 80% of Africa’s whole artisanal gold manufacturing.Swiss officers just lately busted up a multi-million-dollar gold smuggling operation of their own yard, Swissinfo reported.A 65-year-old Italian man was accused of smuggling and promoting the valuable steel within the Alpine nation. Customs officers mentioned roughly $27.9 million in royalties had been diverted from the Swiss authorities’s coffers.In 2022, then-President Joe Biden mentioned that the U.S. would ban Russian gold, the nation’s second most useful export after power, following the invasion of Ukraine.And gold smuggling instances are surging in Japan on the back of rising costs and the return of abroad vacationers following the Covid-19 pandemic, Kyodo Information reported earlier this month.In a single significantly hair-raising incident, two Chinese language nationals arriving from Hong Kong final September had been discovered hiding a whole of some 2.6 kilograms of powdered gold in wigs at Tokyo’s Haneda airport.Many offenders are believed to have been recruited by way of social media, mentioned Toshihide Manabe, an official at Tokyo Customs, they usually are likely to show much less hesitation at partaking in gold smuggling in contrast with drug trafficking as gold itself isn’t unlawful.Folks aren’t simply smuggling gold the old style approach by sporting the valuable steel as equipment.In some latest instances, smugglers have been hiding powdered gold of their underwear, sending it by worldwide mail after mixing it with tea powder and utilizing it to switch different metals utilized in digital elements.Associated: Veteran fund supervisor points dire S&P 500 warning for 2025
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