Gerardo Del Real,
Editor
Oct. 14, 2026
Breaking News: Wars that threaten energy assets cause energy prices to rise, which is inflationary.
The Consumer Price Index rose 3.7% year-over-year, exceeding expectations of 3.6%, with a 0.6% monthly gain driven largely by, wait for it… energy costs.
Core CPI, excluding food and energy, reached 2.6% annually, while shelter, airfares, and apparel also climbed. So everything is not awesome.
Throw in a Dollar Index near the 103 level, surging rate-hike odds, short-term weakness in the precious metals space (and lithium and the uranium sector), and tax-loss selling, and we wouldn’t be completely wrong to be a bit pessimistic about the next month or so.
And yet the major trends for all of the above remain firmly intact.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced plans yesterday to lower electricity costs and strengthen grid reliability by supporting the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in funding 84 transmission and distribution projects across eight states.
The projects are expected to add approximately 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of grid capacity to help mitigate outages and create greater grid resilience. The TVA award totals approximately $581 million, including $250 million in federal funding and about $331 million in applicant cost-share funding.
Not so coincidentally, 13 states are having grid warnings on the East Coast.
The infrastructure required over the next decade isn’t a want — it’s a need.
That’s extremely bullish for the metals space. Grids, data centers, and nuclear reactors all need the same commodities taking a breather right now.
In the precious metals space… it’s all about the debt.
The Kobeissi Letter recently outlined the global nature of debt levels, pointing out that the U.S. fiscal deficit is projected to widen to -6.1% of GDP in 2027, its largest since 2012, excluding the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.
This will be the largest deficit as a percentage of GDP among the five major developed economies, including the UK, Germany, France, and Japan.
Germany’s deficit is expected to widen from -2.7% of GDP in 2025 to -4.1% in 2027, its largest since 2010, excluding the 2020 pandemic.
Japan’s fiscal deficit is estimated to more than triple, from -0.7% to -2.5% of GDP, its largest since 2022.
The UK is the only economy expected to improve its fiscal position, with its deficit narrowing from -4.3% in 2025 to -3.1% of GDP next year, while France’s budget gap is projected to widen to -5.2%.
The spending will continue, the money printing, the waste, the fraud, and the corruption… all of it.
We don’t have to like the reasons gold is headed higher — but it is.
So yes, I would like to see gold hold the $4,000 level. More importantly, I’d like to see silver hold $55, or the selling there could accelerate.
Copper has held up beautifully as supply disruptions (Chile being the latest) continue to highlight how quickly copper supply can tighten.
This is the short-term noise.
I’ve allocated more capital to the junior explorers in the last two months than I did in the first eight months put together.
Why?
Because there is quality exploration work being done that will be richly rewarded if that exploration yields real discoveries.
Buy low, sell high. The pessimism in the metals space right now perks my contrarian antennas up. Historically, that’s been the best time to go overweight on my positions.
You can see exactly how I’m putting that strategy to work in the pages of Junior Resource Monthly and Junior Resource Speculator.
Use the noise to your advantage. Focus on companies adding value.
Let's get it,
Gerardo Del Real
Editor, Bizarro World