US seeks Ukraine minerals and turns off USAid

Spot pricing for Gold $AU4545

Spot pricing for Silver $AU51.52

Spot pricing for Platinum $AU1561

Amongst the continued turmoil of US President Donald Trump’s first month of office, the past week has seen some very important communication surface around Ukraine and by extension every country that is partners with the US.

Specific to Ukraine, Trump is working with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an exchange of rare earth minerals for the continued support of the US military. With some suggesting that the US has provided almost 300Billion in support already for their war efforts, Trump is positioned to secure access to a treasure trove of lithium, gallium and neodymium; all are important in the production of batteries and military hardware. Where decades ago, countries fought over Oil (or the potential access to it) it seems that as technology is changing so are the goal posts.

And as Trump works closely with Elon Musk to find Government savings to boost their bottom line, the first item to be potentially scrapped this week was US Aid. US aid funds humanitarian aid worldwide, employs 10,000 people and has bases in over 60 countries. Aside from general aid, it also operates a ‘famine detection’ system that looks to predict where food shortages may occur anywhere in the world. It also provides aid in distribution of medicines and vaccines through impoverished countries. Budget estimates for US Aid sit around 40Billion for the year (2023). While not completely scrapping the entire Aid program, Trump has suggested that US Aid may well be absorbed into other Government departments to save on administrative costs. 

And latest housing sales (US) reports show that 16.2% of pending home sales fell out of contract. This is the highest level of failed contracts since 2019. Contract failure can occur for a multitude of reasons, however the obvious one being ‘subject to finance’, a clause many applicants use to secure the initial contract for the home but have access to a failsafe exit from the contract should they not be able to afford it. 

Gold pushed through its all time high last week, and continues to reach new highs daily. Silver looks to be following suit.

Enjoy today’s charts.

Gold daily chart, with 200MDA

Silver daily chart, with 200MDA

US500, with 200MDA

ASX200, with 200MDA