Business & Economics
Gold Tops $4,600 as DOJ Threatens Fed Chair and Iran Unrest Ignites Safe-Haven Rush
On 12 Jan 2026, bullion crossed the $4,600-per-ounce threshold for the first time and silver set a fresh record as investors reacted to a U.S. Justice Department move to criminally probe Fed Chair Jerome Powell and deadly protests in Iran.
Focusing Facts
- Spot gold printed an intraday peak of $4,600.33/oz on 12 Jan 2026, up roughly 1.5–2 % from the prior close.
- Spot silver spiked almost 6 % to $84.61/oz, capping a near-150 % rise from its level a year earlier.
- Goldman Sachs shifted its Fed outlook to two 25-bp cuts in June and September 2026, delaying but still expecting easier policy.
Context
Gold last shattered records in Jan 1980 when it jumped to $850 amid the Soviet–Afghan war and U.S. inflation, and in Aug 2011 when the U.S. credit rating was downgraded; each spike followed a hit to confidence in U.S. governance or global stability. The prospect—unprecedented since the 1951 Fed–Treasury Accord—of indicting a sitting Fed chief echoes those earlier moments, suggesting a structural challenge to central-bank independence, while Iran’s bloodiest unrest since its 1979 revolution revives Middle-East risk premia. Such episodes fit a century-long trend: whenever trust in U.S. institutions or the dollar wobbles, capital rotates into non-yielding stores of value. Whether today’s $4,600 quote proves a peak or a stepping-stone, it signals that political pressures on monetary authorities and geopolitical fractures—not just inflation—now drive bullion pricing, a dynamic that could shape the architecture of global finance for decades.
Perspectives
Global financial media
Bloomberg, Yahoo News, MoneyControl, The West Australian — They frame the metals rally as a symptom of an institutional crisis in Washington – the Justice Department’s threatened indictment of Fed Chair Powell plus President Trump’s erratic foreign and trade policies are eroding faith in the dollar and driving investors into gold and silver. These investor-oriented outlets profit from volatility and commodities advertising, so dramatizing U.S. dysfunction and stressing long-term “conviction” in bullion conveniently reinforces a bullish narrative that benefits their readership and advertisers.
Middle-Eastern state-linked outlets
TRT World, Bahrain News Agency, News.az — They spotlight the deadly unrest in Iran and Trump’s belligerent stance toward Tehran, casting soaring bullion prices as evidence that U.S. actions are heightening regional peril and pushing global investors toward safe-havens. State-affiliated publishers in the region have reason to portray the U.S. as a destabilising force, so they emphasise casualty figures and Trump’s threats while downplaying internal Iranian factors or broader economic drivers.
Market-focused news-wire outlets
NewsBytes, RTE.ie — They treat the price spike chiefly as a textbook reaction to softer U.S. jobs data and the growing likelihood of Fed rate cuts, mentioning geopolitics only as a secondary catalyst. By foregrounding interest-rate expectations and data points these wires cater to traders seeking actionable macro signals, which can understate how political shocks or institutional risks also shape the bullion surge.