Gold price is trading around $4,685, up from $4,698.50 earlier. Short-term trade recommendation target increased from 4,700 to 4,800 last week.

Thinking the price probably will be stronger given the state of the world and the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran and deterioration in global intergovernmental cooperation.

Gold price rose from $4,300 in January to $5,000 by third week, then spiked to $5,590 during futures roll, fell back to $4,400, recovered to $5,300, spiked to $5,400 after U.S./Israel attacked Iran, then fell to $4,100 after Fed indicated no rate cuts.

Massive liquidation of interest rate sensitive assets including gold after Fed's inflation concerns.

Expectation is that gold price is probably going to continue to rise given the state of the world.

A lot of reasons to say I should have more gold and silver in my wealth.

Silver followed same pattern - entered year around $70, now $75.18, rose sharply to 120, fell below $70, recovered above $90, now trading around $75.

Ultra short-term trade recommendation target of $77, will extend as prices have near-term upside potential.

Platinum price $1,964, up sharply $58-59, increased target last week to $2,040. Expectation is price will rise again further.

Palladium showing greater weakness despite tighter supply/demand fundamentals than platinum.

People assuming auto sales will continue to be weak and possibly weaken further due to economic constraints and recession risks, leading to liquidation of palladium positions.

Russian Central Bank sold 300,000 ounces in January and appears to have sold more in February - not unusual as they've been doing this since invading Ukraine.

Russian government living off gold reserves, buying from domestic refineries and selling when needs currency for government expenditures and war effort.

Increased interest in hedging as precious metals and copper prices have risen sharply. Advising clients to hold physical metals but hedge exposure.

If price rises, benefit from physical metal. If price falls, capitalize gains through hedge and recoup profits.

Example hedge priced March 12: floor price $4,500 (locking in >100% profit margin vs $1,700 mining cost), get market price up to $5,500, above $5,500 get $5,500, above $6,175 give up $675 spread.

Extremely attractive as $5,500 has only been exceeded for portion of one day in history, and $4,500 wasn't seen until late December last year.

Most mining companies lack financial sophistication to understand and effectively manage hedging.

Financial managers penalized if hedging goes wrong, but not penalized if company loses money from falling prices. Rely on banks/trading companies who structure hedges that benefit themselves at mining company's expense.

Before anti-hedging witch hunt in late 1990s, hedging companies had better operating performance with no noticeable difference in equity performance. After witch hunt, hedgers continued better profits but penalized by shareholders.

CPM Group's proper hedging gives client floor price, all market profits up to record levels, only gives banks small sliver of upside at very high prices.

Example: At $10,000 gold, client gets $9,325 ($10,000 less $675), keeping most upside with predetermined, minimized credit risk.