Why War Is Pushing Gold Down and Oil Up

About this episode

Mark Thornton discusses the relationship between escalating conflicts in the Persian Gulf and the fluctuating prices of oil and precious metals.

Mark Thornton unpacks a counterintuitive correlation: as the Persian Gulf conflict escalates, oil spikes while gold and silver slide. He explains how higher oil feeds the CPI, locks central banks out of rate cuts, and pressures precious metals through the dollar and petrodollar system, distinguishing the real monetary inflation gold tracks from the statistical indexes driving Fed decisions. Stick around for a wide-ranging Commodity Culture interview with Jesse Day on the festering world war and the path back to hard money. Plus, an update on the 2026 stocks-vs-MOO prediction contest (fertilizer is running away with it). 20% off listener offer on the new insulated Minor Issues tumbler and three of Mark's books, signed if ordered by the end of April: https://mises.org/MinorIssuesTumbler . Use coupon code Thornton. Be sure to follow Minor Issues at https://Mises.org/MinorIssues

People in this episode

Host: Mark Thornton

Guest: Jesse Day

Topics covered

• gold and silver market
• oil prices
• CPI and inflation
• central bank policies
• petrodollar system
• Commodity Culture
• hard money

Keywords

• gold
• oil
• CPI
• inflation
• central banks
• petrodollar
• Commodity Culture
• hard money
• stocks-vs-MOO
• fertilizer

Sponsors

Mises

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Mises, Mises.org

Products: Minor Issues tumbler

More episodes of Minor Issues

• Two Important Graphs and Rick Rule · May 2, 2026
• Chemistry 101 · April 25, 2026
• Mark Thornton on the “Synthetic Boom” · April 18, 2026
• Gold Whiplash and the Petrodollar · April 4, 2026
• Central Banks vs. Reality: Gold’s Signal in a War Economy · March 28, 2026
• War, Gold, and the Fed’s Next Move · March 21, 2026