Wall Street posts three-week losing streak as Iran war batters sentiment
Gold just reclaimed $5,100 for the first time in nearly a month — and the catalysts stacking up behind it aren’t going away anytime soon. April futures opened Monday at $5,128.80, up 0.9% from Friday’s close, with spot gold trading near $5,150 by mid-morning. The Dow dropped 635 points. The S&P 500 shed 0.6%. Bitcoin tumbled below $65,000. And gold? Gold ripped higher while everything else bled.
The trigger is a trifecta that reads like a safe-haven playbook: the Supreme Court just struck down Trump’s emergency tariffs, Trump immediately retaliated with a new 15% global tariff under different legal authority, and the U.S. is signaling military action against Iran within 10 days. That’s policy chaos, trade uncertainty, and geopolitical risk all hitting at once.
The Supreme Court Blew Up the Tariff Framework — and Gold Loved It
Friday’s 6-3 Supreme Court ruling was the most consequential trade policy decision in decades. The court held that President Trump exceeded his authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose sweeping tariffs — the legal backbone of virtually every major duty implemented since early 2025. Chief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion, joined by Gorsuch, Barrett, and the three liberal justices.
The ruling invalidated the bulk of existing tariffs, including the "reciprocal" duties on most trading partners and separate levies targeting China, Canada, and Mexico. Customs and Border Protection confirmed Monday it would deactivate all IEEPA-related tariff codes effective 12:01 AM Tuesday.
But here’s the thing: Trump didn’t blink. Within hours of the ruling, he signed an executive order imposing a 10% global tariff under the Trade Act of 1974 — a different statute the court didn’t touch. By Saturday, he’d raised it to 15%, the maximum allowed under Section 122 of that law. The 1974 Act caps temporary surcharges at 150 days and requires congressional approval for any extension.
"I think their decision was terrible. I think it’s an embarrassment to their families," Trump said of the justices who voted against him, singling out his own appointees Gorsuch and Barrett by name.
The net effect for markets: tariff uncertainty hasn’t decreased — it’s morphed. The old framework is dead. The new one is legally untested, politically volatile, and capped at 150 days without congressional action. That’s exactly the kind of structural ambiguity that drives capital into gold.
Central Banks Aren’t Waiting for Clarity
The institutional bid beneath gold has nothing to do with day-to-day tariff headlines. Goldman Sachs reiterated its year-end gold target of $5,400 per ounce on February 20, maintaining the call it set in a January 21 note that raised the forecast from $4,900.
The thesis is simple: central banks are buying roughly 60 tonnes of gold per month in 2026, driven by emerging market diversification away from dollar reserves. Western ETFs have added approximately 500 tonnes of gold since early 2025. And private investors — family offices, high-net-worth individuals — are treating gold as insurance against long-term fiscal and monetary policy risks, not as a short-term trade.
"Unlike previous hedges tied to specific events, positions taken against perceived risks such as fiscal sustainability may not fully resolve this year and are therefore stickier," Goldman analysts Daan Struyven and Lina Thomas wrote. Global gold ETFs logged record inflows of nearly $89 billion in 2025, pushing holdings to all-time highs near 4,025 tonnes.
Goldman’s view: even without any new private-sector diversification, central bank demand alone should push gold to $5,400 by year-end. If private investors accelerate — particularly through call-option structures — the upside gets "significantly skewed" higher.
The Iran Wild Card
Don’t ignore the geopolitical premium. President Trump signaled last week that the U.S. could take military action against Iran within 10 days if nuclear negotiations don’t progress. Talks are scheduled to resume in Geneva on Thursday, but the tone from Washington is escalatory. CNBC reported Friday that gold was drawing support from the Iran standoff independent of dollar dynamics — a telling sign of structural safe-haven demand.
Gold is now rising alongside the dollar, which traded near a four-week high Monday. That’s unusual. Historically, gold and the dollar move inversely. When they don’t, it signals that gold is being driven by fear, not just currency mechanics.
How to Play the Gold Breakout
Here are five ways to position for a market that’s repricing risk in real time.
- Newmont (NEM) — ~$122 — The world’s largest gold miner just beat Q4 estimates with EPS of $2.52 versus $1.97 consensus and revenue of $6.82 billion. Newmont produced 4.0–4.2 million ounces in 2025, and its 2026 AISC guidance of $1,680/oz gives it massive margin expansion at $5,100+ gold. The stock trades at a 20–25% discount to peers according to Seeking Alpha, with an average analyst target of $135 — roughly 11% upside. Record free cash flow of $1.6 billion last quarter and near-zero net debt make this the most conservative way to own the gold miners’ rally.
- Agnico Eagle Mines (AEM) — ~$228 — JPMorgan calls Agnico the "premier player in the space," and the Q4 numbers back it up: EPS of $2.70 versus $2.62 consensus, revenue of $3.56 billion versus $3.42 billion expected, and record 2025 production of 3.45 million ounces at $979/oz cash costs. The company is guiding for a 20–30% production increase over the next decade, targeting 4 million ounces annually by the early 2030s. Bank of America has a $252 target. The average analyst consensus sits at $241, implying 6% upside — but if gold holds above $5,100, that target is almost certainly getting revised higher.
- Barrick Mining (B) — ~$48 — The contrarian value play. Barrick trades at just 4.3x FY27 EV/EBITDA and a 22% discount to peers, according to JPMorgan. That discount reflects jurisdictional risk (Mali, Pakistan) and a recent management transition, but the underlying business is printing money: record quarterly cash flow, EBITDA margins expected to exceed 70% in 2026, and a dividend that was recently increased. JPMorgan’s Bennett Moore rates it Overweight, arguing the discount is "potentially overdone" with catalysts including the Mali mine restart and a potential North American asset spin-off. If gold stays above $5,000, Barrick’s margin of safety is enormous.
- Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM) — ~$151 — The streaming model offers leveraged exposure to gold prices without the operational risk of running a mine. Wheaton reported 2025 production of approximately 692,000 gold equivalent ounces, beating its own guidance. TD Securities maintains a Buy rating with a $164 target. The company just signed a $4.3 billion silver streaming deal with BHP, adding another long-life asset to an already diversified portfolio. For investors who want gold price leverage with less downside volatility, WPM is the cleanest structure in the sector.
- VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) — ~$110 — The catch-all for investors who don’t want to pick individual miners. GDX holds 55 positions across the senior gold mining space, with top holdings in Newmont, Agnico Eagle, Barrick, and Wheaton. The ETF is up over 157% in the past year, and it recorded $1.62 billion in net inflows over the past month alone. At a 13.1x P/E ratio, the miners as a group are still cheaper than the S&P 500 at 22x — despite delivering higher earnings growth in a rising gold price environment.
The Bear Case Isn’t Dead
I’d be dishonest if I didn’t flag the risks. Gold pulled back sharply from its January all-time high of $5,600 and is still 8% below that peak. Goldman warns that positioning remains "stretched" and that modest catalysts — geopolitical de-escalation, a hawkish Fed surprise — could trigger pullbacks toward the $4,700 zone.
Fed Governor Christopher Waller spoke Monday and was noncommittal on rate direction, saying recent jobs data "may be more noise than signal." The Fed is in wait-and-see mode, which means the 50 basis points of cuts Goldman expects in 2026 aren’t guaranteed. If inflation stays sticky — core PCE held at 3% last week — and the Fed stays on hold longer, gold’s interest-rate-sensitive buyers could pull back.
But here’s my read: the structural bid from central banks, the tariff chaos that just reset the entire U.S. trade framework, and the Iran escalation risk all argue for gold maintaining a $5,000+ floor. The tactical dips are buying opportunities, not exits.
What to Watch
Three catalysts in the next two weeks. First, NVIDIA earnings on February 25 — not directly a gold catalyst, but a bellwether for risk appetite. A disappointment could accelerate the rotation from equities into safe havens, adding fuel to gold’s breakout.
Second, the Iran-U.S. nuclear talks in Geneva on Thursday, February 27 — Trump’s 10-day ultimatum puts these negotiations under extreme pressure. Any breakdown sends gold to test the January highs.
Third, the February jobs report on March 6 — Fed Governor Waller specifically flagged this as the data point that will shape his policy view. A weak print strengthens the case for rate cuts and drives ETF inflows into gold. A strong print keeps the Fed on hold but doesn’t kill the structural thesis.
Gold is telling you something. While equities chop sideways and policymakers fight with the Supreme Court, the oldest safe-haven asset in the world is quietly breaking out. The smart money has been accumulating all year. The question isn’t whether gold hits $5,400 — it’s how quickly it gets there.