Gold Plunges 7.2% to $4,551 in Single Day, Silver Drops 13.9% to $66.93. Day 20 of the Middle East War, Safe-haven Assets Tumble Instead of Rising, Strong Dollar + Inflation Expectations + Liquidity Tightening are Redefining the Meaning of "Safety".
1｜Gold Plunges 7%, Silver Plunges 14%, Safe-haven Logic Fails During War
Gold drops $310 to $4,551/ounce in a single day (-7.2%), silver plunges from $77.77 to $66.93 (-13.9%). This marks the sixth consecutive trading day of gold decline, setting the longest losing streak since late 2024. The usual logic is that war boosts safe-haven assets, but this time is different: the strong U.S. dollar index (DXY +0.4%), rising U.S. bond yields, and inflation expectations driven up by the oil price shock have dashed hopes for a dovish Fed, leading funds to move out of precious metals into U.S. cash. In early February, CME raised gold margins from 6% to 8% and silver margins from 11% to 15%, squeezing leveraged longs out. What appears to be a collapse of gold and silver is, at its core, a shift in the pricing power of safe-haven assets from fear to interest rates when inflation and war occur simultaneously.
(Source: Fortune / CNBC / 24/7 Wall St.)
2｜Israel Strikes World's Largest Natural Gas Field, Iran Starts Naming Targets for Gulf Energy Facility Bombings
Israel, in coordination with the U.S., struck the Iranian South Pars gas field. This is not an ordinary military target, as South Pars shares the same geological structure as Qatar's North Field, which supplies 20% of global LNG from the Qatari side. WTI crude oil surges above $97, Dubai crude breaks $150 to hit a historic high. Iran promptly released a list of targets, including Saudi's Aramco Samref refinery, Jubail petrochemical complex, and the UAE's Al Hosn gas field. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and Kuwait all reported attacks. The IEA released its largest-ever emergency stockpile of 400 million barrels, with the U.S. adding 172 million barrels from the SPR, yet prices were hardly restrained. The war is escalating from chokepoint blockades to capacity destruction, and the global energy reserve system is almost powerless against it.
(Source: Fortune / Al Jazeera / CNBC)
3｜Pentagon Formally Counters, Defines Anthropic's Security Red Line as a "National Security Risk"
The Department of Defense filed a 40-page rebuttal in a California federal court, with the central argument being that Anthropic may have "attempted to disable its technology or pre-modify model behavior" during "military operations". The Early Edition covered 150 retired judges supporting Anthropic's brief. Tonight's development is the Pentagon's formal response, renaming an AI company's ethical stance as a supply chain risk. In the same week, the Pentagon signed agreements with OpenAI and xAI. A hearing on March 24 will address a question unprecedented before: can AI vendors impose conditions on military uses, or does the military have the right to unconditional access.
（Source: TechCrunch / Washington Examiner）
4 | Crypto.com to Reduce Staff by 12%, Crypto Industry Begins Shift to AI
Crypto.com has announced a reduction of about 180 employees, representing 12% of its total workforce. The CEO stated that positions not aligned with "our new world" would be eliminated. This is not an isolated case. In the past two weeks, Block (Jack Dorsey) has laid off nearly 40% of its staff and announced a full pivot to AI, while Gemini has reduced its workforce by 25%. On the surface, this is a cost optimization move during a downturn in the industry. At its core, crypto exchanges are transitioning from a "hire and expand" model to an "AI replacement + streamlined core team" model. The positions being cut are not peripheral; rather, they are from the entire middle management layer. When three major exchanges all cite the same reason for layoffs, it is no longer just individual company decisions but a structural shift in the industry.
（Source: Bloomberg）
5 | US Stock Market Plunges for Second Consecutive Day as Triple Pressures Tighten Simultaneously
The S&P 500 fell to 6,588 (-0.55%), the Dow dropped to 45,902 (-0.70%), and the Nasdaq declined by 0.73%. Europe saw even bigger losses, with Germany's DAX falling by 3% and the Stoxx 600 by 2.76%. Over the past two days, the Dow has shed over 1,200 points. The selling pressure does not stem from a single event but from three converging factors. The hawkish Fed (holding rates at 3.50%-3.75%, 7:7 split in dot plot) has dashed hopes of a rate cut. Oil price shocks (WTI $97, Dubai $150) have raised inflation expectations. The PPI at 0.7% (twice the expected rate) confirms that supply-side inflation is accelerating. While the market appears to be in a slump, the underlying issue is the stacking of three pressures that typically do not occur simultaneously, leaving funds with nowhere deemed safe.
（Source: 24/7 Wall St. / Yahoo Finance）
Also Worth Knowing ↓
The Bank of Japan maintains its interest rates and raises the assessment of inflation risks to "upside." The BOJ lists the energy impact of the Iran conflict as a key uncertainty. The major central banks worldwide have collectively chosen to hold steady this week (Fed, BOJ) as they await clarity on the transmission path of the oil price shock.
Apple's Siri, powered by Gemini, set for a major overhaul to be released this month with iOS 26.4. Apple pays Google around $1 billion annually and utilizes the Gemini model with 1.2 trillion parameters. This white-labeled integration ensures users will not see the Google brand. Apple's decision to forego in-house large-scale models in favor of outsourcing signals an industry shift.
（Source: CNBC / TechCrunch）
In the U.S., the price of gasoline has increased by $0.80 in one month, with diesel approaching $5/gallon. The energy shock is now transmitting from the financial markets to the consumer side. Coupled with Powell's statement of "inflation being lower than expected," another piece of evidence has been added to the stagflation narrative. (Source: NPR / AAA)
