 I've spent two decades tracking the forces that move gold... For 20 years I've lived inside the data, the cycles, the macro shifts... And what's happening right now between Saudi Arabia and the Chinese is a turning point that will move the price of gold in a way we haven't seen in generations. Because the Saudis have quietly walked away from a pact it struck with the U.S. in 1974... A pact that quietly ran the global financial system for the past half-century. The arrangement was simple: Saudi Arabia would price its oil only in U.S. dollars — which meant every nation on the planet had to stockpile U.S. Treasuries just to buy energy. That single agreement is the bedrock American financial supremacy has rested on for fifty years. And now, it's gone. The mainstream press barely covered the unwinding of this deal... And in the beginning, the surface looked calm. But the cracks are now impossible to ignore... Saudi Arabia inked a $7 billion currency swap with Beijing… Started clearing oil transactions in digital yuan… And plugged itself into mBridge, China's cross-border settlement network. Conflict with Iran is pushing Gulf states toward yuan-denominated oil contracts... And vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz are now paying tolls in yuan, in crypto, in anything other than the greenback... On both shores of the Persian Gulf, the dollar's grip is loosening... and something else is taking its place. The collapse of this enormous, built-in global demand for dollars will rewrite how money works. Because if crude no longer requires dollars, then the world has no reason to warehouse U.S. currency. And when dollar demand softens… Treasury demand softens right alongside it. Ten-year yields are already creeping toward 4.4% — the level where the machinery starts to seize up. Weaker Treasury demand → climbing yields → Fed steps in → the printers fire up → and the dollars in your account quietly lose their muscle. That's the chain reaction unfolding in front of us. As the dollar weakens and foreign buyers walk away from American debt, gold has nowhere to go but up. A sinking dollar is the most powerful tailwind gold has ever known. But the smartest way to position for the dollar's decline isn't to load up on bullion… There's a different vehicle for capturing gold's next leg higher... An asset that's still priced at a dramatic discount to where gold itself is trading today. It's gold exposure at a fraction of the cost... Click here to see how it works. Best, Garrett Goggin, CFA, CMT
Chief Analyst and Founder, Golden Portfolio
This Week's Featured Article
Meta Platforms’ Cloud Push: Growth Opportunity Versus AI ConcernsReported by Leo Miller. Article Published: 7/8/2026. 
Key Points
- Meta Platforms stock rose 8.8% on July 1 following reports that the company may begin selling excess compute capacity to outside firms.
- Comparisons to CoreWeave and a SpaceX-Alphabet leasing deal suggest Meta's potential cloud business could scale quickly and ease concerns over rising capital spending.
- CFO Susan Li recently said Meta has consistently underestimated its compute needs, casting doubt on how much excess capacity actually exists for the cloud push.
- Special Report: It’s one of Trump’s biggest holdings. Do you own it?
Shares of Magnificent Seven giant Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) recently got a significant boost after the company’s potential cloud push moved closer to reality. Shares jumped 8.8% on July 1 after reports that Meta plans to sell excess compute capacity to third parties. While the market’s reaction was clearly positive, investors should weigh both the upside and downside if Meta follows through. The company’s cloud push could become a meaningful source of revenue and profit, but it also raises questions about the long-term competitiveness of its AI products. Positives of Selling Compute: AI Monetization and Spending Signals
One of the biggest reasons the market reacted positively to Meta’s cloud computing push is what it could mean for the company’s ability to generate new AI revenue. By renting out computing capacity to other firms, Meta may be able to earn attractive margins on its capital expenditures (CapEx). When considering Meta’s position in the cloud computing space, neoclouds like CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) provide a useful comparison. CoreWeave focuses exclusively on AI infrastructure demand, while more established companies like Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) serve both AI and non-AI demand. Because Meta’s AI infrastructure is heavily concentrated in graphics processing units, the company would operate in a similar space to CoreWeave. As a result, CoreWeave can offer a glimpse into how much Meta could benefit from entering the cloud computing market. Last quarter, CoreWeave generated revenue of $2.08 billion. Of that amount, the company’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were approximately $1.2 billion. Achieving something similar could provide a meaningful boost for Meta, whose calculated Q1 2026 EBITDA was approximately $28.87 billion. Still, as Meta enters the market, the added competition could ضغط down margins in this space. However, with overall demand for compute still rising, Meta could have a significant growth opportunity from here. In addition, the recent deal SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) signed with Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) suggests Meta could scale cloud revenue much faster than CoreWeave. Alphabet will pay SpaceX $920 million per month to lease computing assets, implying $2.76 billion in quarterly revenue. Another important implication is what the move signals about Meta’s CapEx spending going forward. If Meta already believes it has excess compute, it suggests the company may not need to spend as heavily on CapEx in the future. Meta’s elevated and rising CapEx spending has arguably been the biggest overhang on its stock price. In turn, a sign that this trend could potentially reverse is positive for many investors. The Negatives: Selling Compute Could Point to AI Product WeaknessOn the negative side, Meta’s willingness to sell compute suggests it does not have enough strong internal use cases for that capacity, raising questions about its broader competitiveness in delivering AI products. The timing of this pivot is notable given the release of Meta’s Muse Spark model several months ago, which is far more intelligent than its predecessors. The move to sell excess compute suggests that development of Muse Spark-related products may not be progressing as quickly as hoped. Those products would likely require more compute to support their usage. In fact, recent reports say CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees that the pace of the company’s AI agent development has been slower than expected. Furthermore, it is important to note that the details of Meta’s cloud push are very limited at this point. It remains unclear how much of Meta’s compute the company considers excess relative to internal needs. That question matters, since the amount of excess capacity would directly determine how much revenue Meta could generate from the cloud push. Notably, comments made on Meta’s most recent earnings call pushed back against the idea that the company has significant excess compute. Chief Financial Officer Susan Li said, “Our experience so far has been that we have continued to underestimate our compute needs.” She added, "Our expectation is that compute will become even more central to the business going forward.” Meta’s Next Earnings Call Could Provide Significant Clarity on Cloud AmbitionsOverall, Meta has yet to provide any concrete comments on its cloud push. Given the significant implications for Meta’s outlook, it will likely be a key topic of discussion during the company’s next earnings call. When Meta addresses cloud computing directly, investors should watch for clues about how much compute the company plans to provide to third parties. That should offer more detail on Meta’s revenue opportunity and on its confidence in marketing its own AI solutions. . |
