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## Gold vs Stocks: The 10-Year Showdown Nobody Expected
Here's a reality check: $1,000 in gold 10 years ago? You'd have ~$2,360 today. Solid, right? Not really.
Gold price went from $1,158.86/oz to $2,744.67/oz—that's a 136% gain, roughly 13.6% annual returns. Sounds decent until you compare it to the S&P 500, which crushed it with 174% gains (17.41% annually). And the stock index didn't even include dividends.
Here's the kicker: gold's way more volatile than people think. The 1970s? Gold was on steroids—40.2% annual returns. Then the 1980s-2020s? Average of just 4.4% per year. It literally tanked throughout the 1990s.
**Why do people still buy gold then?**
Because it does one thing stocks can't: it survives chaos. When markets implode, gold usually pops. 2020 saw it jump 24.43%. 2023's inflation panic? +13.08%. It's not about making money—it's insurance.
The 2025 forecast? Analysts expect another ~10% push, potentially hitting $3,000/oz. But here's the hard truth: gold doesn't generate cash flow. It just sits there. Stocks, real estate, bonds—they actually *do* something. Gold? It's the apocalypse hedge.
**Bottom line:** Gold isn't a wealth builder—it's a portfolio shield. Mix it in, don't bet on it. **Chip Stocks Carry Markets Higher on Strong US Jobs Data**
Wall Street bounced back Wednesday after catching a couple of early punches. The S&P 500 finished up 0.37%, while the Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.72% on the back of some surprisingly hot economic news.
Private employers added 42K jobs last month—way more than the expected 30K—and the service sector expanded at its fastest clip in 8 months. Plot twist though: inflation in services is heating up, with price pressures hitting a 3-year high. Welcome to the Fed's dilemma.
The real MVP? Chipmakers absolutely crushed it. Seagate led the way with an 11% surge, while Micron (+9%), Marvell (+7%), and Lam Research (+6%) all made the party. The AI infrastructure trade caught a breather after getting hammered earlier in the week—Super Micro Computer still tanked 11% on disappointing revenue numbers.
Here's what's worth watching: Bond yields jumped hard on the strong jobs print, pushing the 10-year yield to a 4-week high of 4.159%. That's typically a headwind for growth stocks, but the chip rally more than offset it Wednesday.
On the earnings front, 80% of S&P 500 companies have beaten forecasts so far—best quarter since 2021. But profits are only up 7.2% year-over-year, the slowest pace in two years. Gains are getting harder to come by.
Bonus wildcard: the government shutdown is now the longest in US history, weighing on sentiment but potentially supporting bonds if the economy weakens. The Trump tariff Supreme Court case is also heating up—if the court strikes down reciprocal tariffs, the Treasury might have to refund over $80 billion already collected. ## Elon Musk Just Corrected Everyone About His Heritage—And There's a LOTR Plot Twist
Elon finally got tired of people getting his background wrong. The billionaire posted on X that he's actually British/English descent, not Afrikaner like everyone thought. Nothing crazy, except... he dropped a fun fact that links him to J.R.R. Tolkien.
Yeah, the Lord of the Rings author was also born in South Africa (Bloemfontein, 1892). Both born in SA, both English backgrounds—Elon basically said "I'm more Tolkien than you think."
Why the correction matters? Some crypto/tech blogs had been painting his South African upbringing as "Afrikaner culture in apartheid era," which completely misses the context. Elon's point: cultural background shapes how you see the world, so get it right.
Also worth noting: Musk is lowkey obsessed with Tolkien. He's cited LOTR stuff on social media multiple times, and it apparently played a role in his whole Grimes era too. The man literally grew up in SA, did a Lord of the Flies-style survival camp at 12, and became a Tolkien fanboy. Pretty on-brand.
As for that "emerald mine" story? Still dismisses it as fake, says people keep bringing it up to bug him. 
