John Feneck, portfolio manager and consultant at Feneck Consulting, shares his updated outlook for gold and silver prices, outlining key support and resistance levels.
He also discusses precious metals and critical minerals stocks that he’s watching.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
House Republicans have seemingly dropped plans for a new millionaire’s tax hike to pay for other priorities in President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’
The Ways & Means Committee, the House’s tax-writing panel, released nearly 400 pages of legislation on Monday, setting the stage for permanently extending Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), as well as a host of other new Trump tax priorities.
That includes no taxes on tipped and overtime wages, both of which are accomplished via new tax deductions.
For Trump’s promise to cut taxes on seniors’ Social Security, the legislation temporarily increases the standard tax deduction that seniors are allowed to take, affecting the end of last year through the beginning of 2029.
It would also raise the debt limit by $4 trillion – something Trump specifically asked Republican lawmakers to deal with before the U.S. runs out of cash to pay its debts sometime this summer, risking a national credit default.
Notably absent from the sweeping piece of legislation is a proposal floated last week that would have established a new tax bracket for people making $2.5 million per year or more, taxing them at 39.6% – which was the top tax rate before TCJA lowered it to 37%.
Conservative groups like Americans for Prosperity and the Heritage Foundation fiercely fought any notion of a tax increase on the wealthy.
It was also publicly opposed by a number of leading Republican figures like former Speaker Newt Gingrich and ex-Vice President Mike Pence, along with Pence’s interest group, Advancing American Freedom.
Several House GOP lawmakers told Fox News Digital last week they could not support a millionaire’s tax hike.
Two people familiar with discussions told Fox News Digital on Monday that they did not expect it to be included before the bill advanced through committee on Tuesday.
But Republicans find other cost-savings in the legislation, including stripping tax-exempt status from ‘terrorist-supporting organizations’ and using artificial intelligence (AI) software to identify and root out improper Medicare payments.
The bill would also dramatically reduce tax breaks for professional sports team owners, a measure known as amortization, which allows those owners to write off a portion of their purchase price.
Republicans also target large private colleges and universities, including Ivy Leagues, with higher excise taxes, which are federal duties paid on net earnings of the schools’ investments.
That rate is currently 1.4%. But the legislation would bring it to as high as 21% for the largest schools, like Harvard University and Yale University – as Trump continues to battle Ivy League over their funding.
The Ways & Means Committee is expected to advance its portion of the legislation on Tuesday afternoon.
It’s just one portion of Trump’s so-called ‘one big, beautiful bill,’ which Republicans are working to pass via the budget reconciliation process.
By lowering the Senate’s threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51, it allows the party controlling Congress and the White House to entirely skirt the minority and pass sweeping pieces of legislation – provided they deal with the national debt, tax, or spending.
Trump wants Republicans to use it to pass his agenda on taxes, the border, immigration, energy, and defense.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is currently more than $36 trillion dollars in debt.
House Republicans have pledged to find between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion in cost savings in other areas to offset the cost of Trump’s new priorities and put the U.S. on a better fiscal path.
The tax legislation also increases the maximum allowed child tax credit (CTC) from $2,000 to $2,500, and includes added tax relief for small business owners who file their company under individual income tax brackets.
It also includes a modest victory for blue state Republicans in increasing the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap from $10,000 to $30,000 for both single filers and married couples. Married taxpayers filing separately get a cap of $15,000.
That maximum amount gets phased out if a person’s income exceeds $400,000, back down to $10,000 once a person’s income hits $500,000.
SALT deductions are primarily aimed at helping people in high-cost-of-living areas, particularly people in the suburbs of Democratic strongholds like New York and Los Angeles.
Republicans representing those areas have said increasing the $10,000 SALT deduction cap is critical to them remaining in office – and therefore to the GOP keeping the House majority.
Several SALT Caucus Republicans balked at a $30,000 cap last week, blasting it as insufficient. It’s not clear if they will hold up the final bill over it, however, with at least one member of their group, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told Fox News Digital she could agree to the new threshold.
The Monday release comes after Republicans unveiled a portion of their tax plan over the weekend. Other details like SALT deduction caps and potential new tax brackets were still being worked out, however.
The identity of a Trump administration official who was allegedly targeted by the Biden administration’s State Department in a ‘disinformation’ dossier remains a mystery nearly two weeks after Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed details on the file.
Rubio revealed at the most recent Trump administration Cabinet meeting April 30 that an unidentified Trump administration official who was present had been the subject of a State Department dossier detailing alleged promotion of social media ‘disinformation.’
Rubio, the State Department and the White House have not yet identified which official the Biden administration targeted. Fox News Digital has reached out repeatedly to the White House regarding the identity of the official, including on Monday, but did not receive replies.
When asked for an update on the identity of the Trump official, the State Department directed Fox News Digital to Rubio’s April 30 remark, detailing that, ‘We are going to be turning over these dossiers to the individuals, and they’ll decide whether they want to disclose it or not.’
Rubio said during the April 30 Cabinet meeting that a little-known, now-defunct office within the State Department called the Global Engagement Center (GEC) had compiled disinformation dossiers on Americans across the country as part of an effort to ‘censor’ free speech, including an individual who has since joined the Trump administration.
‘We had an office in the Department of State whose job it was to censor Americans,’ Rubio said during the meeting. ‘And, by the way, I’m not going to say who it is. I’ll leave it up to them. There’s at least one person at this table today who had a dossier in that building of social media posts to identify them as purveyors of disinformation. We have these dossiers. We are going to be turning those over to these individuals.’
Vice President JD Vance interjected, asking, ‘Was it me or Elon (Musk)? We can follow up when the media is gone,’ which drew laughter from the Cabinet.
‘But just think about that. The Department of State of the United States had set up an office to monitor the social media posts and commentary of American citizens, to identify them as vectors of disinformation,’ Rubio continued. ‘When we know that the best way to combat disinformation is freedom of speech and transparency.’
Though Rubio did not identify which Trump official the Biden administration kept a dossier on, Elon Musk has previously railed against the Global Engagement Center.
‘The worst offender in US government censorship & media manipulation is an obscure agency called GEC,’ Musk posted to X in January 2023. That was more than a year before Musk endorsed Trump in the 2024 presidential race and became a fixture of the administration in his temporary role with the Department of Government Efficiency.
‘They are a threat to our democracy,’ Musk added.
Former President Barack Obama established the Global Engagement Center in 2016 through an executive order aimed at coordinating counterterrorism messaging to foreign nations before it expanded its scope to also include countering foreign propaganda and disinformation, State Department documents show.
Conservatives have slammed the office as a political weapon to silence free speech, including Rubio in an April op-ed when he cited a 2020 GEC report claiming that a ‘Russian disinformation apparatus’ was behind public speculation that the coronavirus was an ‘engineered bioweapon’ or was created by ‘research conducted at the Wuhan institute.’
In the years following the pandemic, the Department of Energy under the Biden administration and former FBI Director Christopher Wray said evidence indicated that COVID-19 was the result of a lab leak, while the Trump administration’s CIA reported earlier in 2025 that a lab leak was the likely origin of the virus.
In 2024, lawmakers did not approve new funding for the office in the National Defense Authorization Act, and it was scheduled to terminate on Dec. 23, 2024. The Biden administration, however, shuffled staffers and rebranded the office.
It became the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference Hub just days before Trump’s inauguration, the New York Post reported in January.
Rubio announced in April that the office would officially shutter.
‘I am announcing the closure of the State Department’s Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI), formerly known as the Global Engagement Center (GEC),’ Rubio said in an April 16 statement announcing the office’s closure.
‘Under the previous administration, this office, which cost taxpayers more than $50 million per year, spent millions of dollars to actively silence and censor the voices of Americans they were supposed to be serving,’ he wrote. ‘This is antithetical to the very principles we should be upholding and inconceivable it was taking place in America. That ends today.’
Rubio has railed against the office in previous interviews and op-eds, including authoring an opinion piece for the Federalist in April touting that he was dismantling the ‘censorship-industrial complex’ that had gripped agencies such as the State Department.
‘Over the past half-decade, bodies like GEC, crafted by our own governing ruling class, nearly destroyed America’s long free speech history,’ he wrote in the op-ed. ‘The enemies of speech had new lingo to justify their authoritarian impulse. It was ‘disinformation,’ allegedly pushed by nefarious foreign governments, that was the No. 1 threat to ‘our democracy.’ To protect ‘our democracy,’ this ‘disinformation’ had to be identified and stamped out.’
From May 11 to 17, world leaders in blockchain will gather in Toronto for Canada Crypto Week, a series of events highlighting the evolution of digital finance and the Web3 economy.
In focus this year are deep dives into pressing topics like regulation, tokenization, decentralized finance (DeFi), the future of Web3 infrastructure and how artificial intelligence (AI) will transform the crypto landscape.
Also on the agenda is Canada’s growing role in the global crypto conversation.
These events will feature keynote speakers, regulatory panels and technology presentations from industry leaders at the forefront of innovation. Be sure to follow our updates this week as they unfold.
The Blockchain Futurist Conference will kick off with a virtual welcome from TRON founder Justin Sun and a panel on global Web3 regulation, with representatives from the Digital Chamber and Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
The morning agenda includes a presentation on tokenization by IHodlLife founder CEO Tristan Schroeder, and a fireside chat about Canada’s stablecoin landscape. In addition, Ethereum co-founder and Decentral founder Anthony Di Iorio will deliver a keynote address on the blockchain industry’s evolution.
Morning sessions at the Blockchain Futurist Conference will also cover security in crypto exchanges, token utility and Canadian regulatory perspectives, featuring representatives from Kraken and Convoy Finance.
Consensus, CoinDesk’s flagship blockchain and Web3 conference, will feature over 500 speakers, including notable figures such as Kevin O’Leary, Dave Portnoy and Coinbase Canada CEO Lucas Matheson.
Attendees can expect a diverse range of programming across multiple stages, covering topics like Bitcoin mining, AI integration and digital asset wealth management.
The conference will also host the CoinDesk PitchFest, showcasing early stage Web3 startups, and provide ample networking opportunities for professionals in the crypto and blockchain industries.
For investors, Canada Crypto Week is a snapshot of where the industry is headed and where opportunities may lie.
With regulators, entrepreneurs and developers sharing various stages, the events offer rare insight into how the rules, tools and infrastructure of tomorrow are being shaped today.
As institutional interest in crypto grows and traditional finance increasingly integrates blockchain solutions, conferences like these are becoming valuable barometers of market sentiment and direction.
Here are a few topics that will be highlighted:
1. Regulation
From both a domestic and international lens, regulation will be a central theme. Canada’s evolving approach of balancing innovation with consumer protection will be explored in depth.
2. Tokenization
As tokenization gains traction in everything from real estate to traditional securities, this year’s presentations will spotlight its practical applications and the tech needed to support mainstream adoption.
3. The Future of Web3
Blockchain Futurist will bring builders together to discuss what’s next for the decentralized internet, covering everything from scalability to mass adoption hurdles.
Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is accusing Democrats of lying about President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’
Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., told Fox News Digital on Monday he believed Democrats had been waging a ‘fear campaign to scare Americans’ ever since Republicans began discussions about the budget reconciliation process.
‘Now, Democrats are pedaling incorrect reports that include policies that aren’t even in the bill,’ Guthrie said.
‘This bill refocuses Medicaid on mothers, children, people with disabilities, and the elderly – not illegal immigrants and capable adults who choose not to work.’
The Kentucky Republican was specifically referring to his panel’s portion of Trump’s bill, the text of which was released late on Sunday night.
The Energy and Commerce Committee, which has broad jurisdiction, including over federal health programs, telecommunications and energy, was tasked with finding at least $880 billion in spending cuts to pay for other priorities in the bill.
It’s the largest share of any of the 11 committees involved in the reconciliation process – some of which have been given additional funding to enact Trump’s priorities on tax cuts, defense, immigration and the border.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), however, said on Monday the legislation would likely achieve even more savings than its $880 billion benchmark.
Guthrie himself told Republicans on a lawmaker-only call on Sunday night that the committee found ‘north of $900 billion’ in savings, a source told Fox News Digital.
Democrats immediately seized on the legislation as what they saw as a smoking gun of Republican plans to cut Medicaid.
But the details released on Sunday night appear to show House GOP leaders veered away from the much more severe cuts to the low-income healthcare program that some conservative lawmakers were pushing.
The legislation would put a new 80-hour-per-month work requirement on certain able-bodied adults receiving Medicaid, aged 19 through 64.
It would also put guardrails on states spending funds on their expanded Medicaid populations. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) allowed states to expand Medicaid coverage to adults who make up to 138% of the poverty level.
More specifically, states that provide Medicaid coverage to illegal immigrants could see their federal Medicaid reimbursement dollars diminished, putting more of that cost on the state itself.
The bill would also require states with expanded Medicaid populations to perform eligibility checks every six months to ensure the system is not being abused.
State Medicaid plans would be affected by a moratorium on any new state provider taxes, while freezing current rates where they are. State provider taxes are state-imposed fees on healthcare providers that help those states get more federal funding for Medicaid.
New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the committee, released a CBO projection requested by his own party that said at least 13.7 million people would lose health insurance based on a draft of Republicans’ Medicaid proposals.
‘Let’s be clear, Republican leadership released this bill under cover of night because they don’t want people to know their true intentions,’ Pallone said.
‘This is not trimming fat from around the edges, it’s cutting to the bone. The overwhelming majority of the savings in this bill will come from taking healthcare away from millions of Americans. Nowhere in the bill are they cutting ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ – they’re cutting people’s healthcare and using that money to give tax breaks to billionaires.’
Guthrie dismissed the calculations in the Democrats’ press release.
‘It is reckless that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle claimed an artificially high number in alleged coverage loss just so they can fearmonger and score political points,’ he told Fox News Digital.
‘This reconciliation is a win for Americans in every part of the country, and it’s a shame Democrats are intentionally reflexively opposing commonsense policies to strengthen the program.’
Republicans are expected to advance the Energy and Commerce portion of the bill on Tuesday afternoon. If it passes through committee, it will be added to the final bill, which Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., hopes to pass the House by Memorial Day.
In this in-depth walkthrough, Grayson introduces the brand-new Market Summary Dashboard, an all-in-one resource designed to help you analyze the market with ease, speed, and depth. Follow along as Grayson shows how to take advantage of panels, mini-charts, and quick scroll menus to maximize your StockCharts experience.
This video originally premiered on May 12, 2025. Click on the above image to watch on our dedicated Grayson Roze page on StockCharts TV.
You can view previously recorded videos from Grayson at this link.
Pan American Silver (TSX:PAAS,NYSE:PAAS) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MAG Silver (TSX:MAG,NYSEAMERICAN:MAG) in a transaction valued at approximately US$2.1 billion, further cementing its position as a top-tier silver producer in the Americas.
The acquisition will bring MAG’s 44 percent stake in the high-grade Juanicipio silver and gold mine in Mexico into Pan American’s portfolio, expanding the company’s exposure to low-cost, high-margin silver production.
Under the deal, MAG shareholders will receive a mix of US$500 million in cash and 0.755 Pan American shares for each MAG share held — a 21 percent premium based on closing prices as of May 9.
Upon the deal’s closing, expected later this year pending regulatory approvals, MAG shareholders will own roughly 14 percent of Pan American on a fully diluted basis.
Pan American CEO Michael Steinmann called the deal “transformational’ in the company’s Sunday (May 11) press release, citing Juanicipio’s strong production profile and future exploration potential.
‘Our acquisition of MAG brings into Pan American’s portfolio one of the best silver mines in the world,’ he said.
‘Juanicipio is a large-scale, high-grade, low-cost silver mine that will meaningfully increase Pan American’s exposure to high margin silver ounces. Furthermore, we see future growth opportunities through the significant exploration potential at Juanicipio as well as MAG’s Deer Trail and Larder properties,’ Steinmann continued.
MAG President George Paspalas echoed this sentiment, noting that the transaction delivers immediate value and long-term upside through continued exposure to Juanicipio within Pan American’s diversified asset base.
Juanicipio, located in Mexico’s prolific Zacatecas district, processed 1.33 million metric tons of ore in 2024, producing 18.6 million ounces of silver and 39,029 ounces of gold — up over 10 percent from 2023.
Operated by Fresnillo (LSE:FRES,OTC Pink:FNLPF), which owns the remaining 56 percent stake, the mine posted an average silver head grade of 468 grams per metric ton and is set to deliver up to 16.7 million ounces of silver in 2025.
Pan American’s 2024 output totaled 21.1 million ounces of silver and 892,000 ounces of gold, in line with guidance.
The company has operations across seven countries, with its key assets including the La Colorada mine in Mexico and the Jacobina gold mine in Brazil. Pan American ended last year with US $887.3 million in cash and short-term investments, bolstered by its recent divestment of the La Arena mine in Peru.
News of the deal sent shares for both companies higher in pre-trading hours on Monday (May 12).
As of 9:13 a.m EST, Pan American shares were up 6.5 percent from the previous day to trade for US$27.21, while MAG shares had seen a 6.07 percent uptick over the same period, trading for C$23.58.
Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Missourians may soon be able to pay their taxes — and possibly their grocery bills — with gold and silver.
The Missouri General Assembly has passed a Republican-backed amendment to a wide-ranging finance bill that recognizes precious metals as legal tender. It would require state government entities to accept electronic forms of gold and silver — known as “electronic specie currency” — for public debts, including taxes.
The bill, now awaiting action by Republican Governor Mike Kehoe, has sparked both curiosity and concern. It stops short of mandating that private businesses accept physical or digital precious metals, but allows them to do so voluntarily.
“The goal is about restoring economic and political freedom back to everyday Missourians,” Representative Bill Hardwick, a Dixon Republican and a primary sponsor of the legislation, told the Kansas City Star. He has pushed versions of the so-called ‘Constitutional Money Act’ for several years alongside members of the Missouri Freedom Caucus.
If signed into law, Missouri would become one of the few states to recognize gold and silver as legal tender — echoing a similar law passed by Utah in 2011 and proposals floated in other Republican-led states like Florida and Louisiana.
Supporters say the measure offers an alternative to the US dollar, which they argue is being devalued by inflation and poor federal monetary policy. However, the bill came as a surprise to some in the Capitol — it drew limited discussion on the House floor, and its full text was unavailable more than 24 hours after its passage, raising implementation questions.
State Representative Kemp Strickler, a Democrat from Lee’s Summit, expressed skepticism about the precious metals provision, though he ultimately voted “present” due to supporting other parts of the broader financial legislation.
“Not a fan of that part of it,” Strickler said. “Assuming it gets signed, we’re in the ‘how do we implement’ stage.”
He added that he expects most private businesses will likely decline to accept gold or silver as payment, given the complexities involved. “I would think this would be a huge challenge for private businesses,” he added.
Implementation may indeed be the most complicated part. The amendment calls on the Missouri Department of Revenue to develop rules and infrastructure for accepting electronic specie by August, when the bill would take effect.
Hardwick suggested that emerging payment technologies could facilitate transactions in gold or silver through digital and paper-based equivalents. But critics say the idea remains largely symbolic and potentially unworkable.
“So when I go to a gas station and buy a Coke, a 20 ounce Coke, and I’d say, you know, here’s my gold … Are they gonna give me back money in gold?” former Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, a Democrat from Independence, said in 2023.
Business groups have been more measured in their responses.
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry opposed earlier versions of the bill that would have forced private businesses to accept gold and silver. But the final version was softened to remove that requirement.
The bill’s momentum comes amid a broader push by conservative lawmakers across the country to reassert state-level authority over monetary policy and hedge against federal economic policies they view as reckless.
Earlier this year, Utah legislators passed a bill to create a precious metals-backed electronic payment system, although Republican Governor Spencer Cox later vetoed it. In Florida, similar legislation has gained traction, with Governor Ron DeSantis voicing support. Louisiana lawmakers have also introduced, but not passed, related bills.
Whether the legislation becomes law now rests with Kehoe, who has not indicated how he will proceed. “The bill will receive a thorough review by Governor Kehoe and his team,” said spokesperson Gabby Picard in an email.
Though some proponents remain optimistic that alternative currency systems can gain traction, the real test will come in how — and whether — the state implements the law in a way that is practical and secure.
For now, gold and silver may be legal tender in theory; however, whether that translates into everyday transactions at gas stations, grocery stores or tax offices remains to be seen.
Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
As white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney and the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica rang out, Robert Francis Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV, was casting history in gold.
The newly elected pontiff is not only the first American pope, but also the latest successor in a long line of men robed in ancient symbols and tradition — as well as precious metals.
The Vatican, for all its spiritual power and theological doctrine, is also quite literally a treasury.
From the moment a pope is elected, he is adorned with regalia that is steeped in centuries of meaning, and often crafted from some of the world’s most valuable resources.
This article explores the material makeup of the modern papacy — what it’s made of, and what it means.
At the center of every pontificate is a single golden symbol: the Fisherman’s Ring.
A custom-made signet bearing the image of St. Peter fishing — a nod to the Pope’s spiritual ancestry — the aptly named Fisherman’s Ring is a badge of papal authority. Historically, it also functioned as a seal for papal documents, though its use for that purpose was discontinued in 1842.
Gold is the traditional material, but recent pontificates have brought slight variations. Pope Benedict XVI’s ring was solid gold; Pope Francis chose gold-plated silver — a subtle nod to austerity.
The composition of Pope Leo XIV’s ring has not yet been confirmed.
Whatever its exact alloy, the symbolism remains rich. The ring is destroyed upon a pope’s death or resignation — shattered with a ceremonial hammer to prevent forgery, a powerful image of the transience of power.
While Pope Leo XIV, like his recent predecessors, is unlikely to don the papal tiara — a triple-crowned headpiece entrenched in medieval grandeur — it remains one of the most opulent artifacts in Vatican history.
Traditionally crafted from silver and often adorned with diamonds, emeralds, sapphires and rubies, the tiara’s structure symbolized the pope’s threefold authority: to teach, to govern and to sanctify.
One of the most extravagant examples belonged to Pope Paul II in the 1460s; he wore a tiara encrusted with gems worth over 200,000 florins — more than US$22 million in today’s dollars. Another tiara, worn by Pope Julius II in 1503, was valued at 200,000 ducats (each ducat containing 3.5 grams of pure gold). These tiaras, now museum pieces, remain potent reminders of the Church’s historical wealth and the metals that shaped its regalia.
The modern papacy, however, has moved away from such ostentation.
Pope Paul VI was the last to wear the tiara. In 1963, just months after his coronation, he donated his own gold- and jewel-encrusted tiara to benefit the poor — a decision echoed by his successors.
Another item of note in the papal wardrobe is the pectoral cross, typically suspended from a gold or silver cord and worn over the chest. This cross often contains a relic and represents the pope’s role as shepherd of the Catholic Church, as well as a constant reminder of his burden: to bear the sins of humanity as Christ did.
Recent popes have had pectoral crosses made of solid silver or gold, often customized with inscriptions or sacred imagery. Pope Francis, for example, wore a simple silver pectoral cross featuring the image of the Good Shepherd.
Worn across the shoulders, the papal stole is not metallic, but is trimmed with elaborate gold embroidery — often hand-stitched using fine gold thread, sometimes even containing 24 karat accents.
The red stole signifies the pope’s priestly consecration and his spiritual role as a “good shepherd,” bearing the yoke of Christ. The golden accents of the stole reflect centuries of textile and metalcraft traditions.
Perhaps the most iconic symbol of the papacy is the crossed keys — one gold, one silver — typically shown bound by a red cord. These appear on everything from the Vatican’s flag to the papal seal and the mosaics embedded in the marble floors of St. Peter’s Basilica. The gold key represents the spiritual authority of heaven; the silver key, the temporal authority of the church on Earth. The downward-facing grips symbolize that both are wielded by the pope himself.
The materials — silver and gold — aren’t incidental; they signal divine access and earthly power alike.
Though no longer crowned with tiaras or enthroned on palanquins, modern popes still wear the miter, a ceremonial headdress. Today’s miters are typically made of silk, but many are embroidered with gold or silver threads, and some include small gemstone inlays.
Each miter is a handcrafted object, often given as a gift by a nation, religious order or diocese.
As the chants of, ‘Viva il papa!’ echo across St. Peter’s Square, and as Pope Leo XIV blesses the faithful, he does so not just with words — but with a legacy etched in precious metals.
In the end, it’s a reminder that even in matters of the soul, the Earth’s treasures still shine.
Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
China has agreed to ‘open itself up to American business’ following trade negotiations between Washington, D.C., and Beijing on Saturday, according to President Donald Trump.
The arrangement was arguably the most significant development stemming from the trade negotiations, Trump told reporters Monday at the White House. Plans have yet to be finalized and ‘papered,’ but Trump said that China is on board with the agreement.
‘The biggest thing to me is the opening up,’ Trump told reporters Monday during an announcement regarding an executive order on drug prices in the U.S. ‘It would be, I think it would be fantastic for our businesses if we could go in and compete and compete with China. It would be a lot of jobs for China.’
‘I think it’s maybe the most important thing to happen, because if you think about it, we opened up our country to China,’ Trump said. ‘They come. We don’t. I mean, they have very few restrictions. and they didn’t open their country to us, never made sense to them. It’s not fair. And they’ve agreed to open China fully open…and I think it’s going to be fantastic.’
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent launched trade negotiations with China in Geneva on Saturday, resulting in a deal that would temporarily ease up on tariffs for 90 days.
Specifically, the trade deal stipulates that the U.S. will cut down its tariffs against Chinese imports from 145% to 30%. Likewise, China will reduce its tariffs against U.S. imports from 125% to 10%.
However, tariffs against some Chinese imports will not lighten up, according to Trump. Existing tariffs against cars, steel and aluminum will still remain in place, he said.
Meanwhile, Bessent signaled that more talks with China would occur in the near future and that both Washington and Beijing would like to continue advancing negotiations.
‘I would imagine that in the next few weeks, we will be meeting again to get rolling on a more fulsome agreement,’ Bessent said in an interview Monday morning with CNBC.
Bessent previously warned that the tariffs could cost China up to 10 million jobs, and said that it was up to Beijing whether it would loosen up the tariffs or not.
‘I think that over time we will see that the Chinese tariffs are unsustainable for China,’ Bessent told reporters at the White House on April 29. ‘I’ve seen some very large numbers over the past few days that show if these numbers stay on, Chinese could lose 10 million jobs very quickly. And even if there is a drop in the tariffs that they could lose five million jobs.’
The deal with China comes days after the U.S. and the U.K. inked a trade deal of their own, which kept existing 10% tariffs in place against U.K. goods but removed some import taxes on items like steel and cars.
‘With this deal, the U.K. joins the United States in affirming that reciprocity and fairness is an essential and vital principle of international trade,’ Trump said Thursday. ‘The deal includes billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports, especially in agriculture, dramatically increasing access for American beef, ethanol and virtually all of the products produced by our great farmers.’