The price of “safe haven” metals – gold, silver and copper – all rose on Monday morning in an apparent reaction from worried investors to Donald Trump’s intervention in Venezuela.
The price of oil is also likely to be in sharp focus in the days and weeks to come, following the US capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
President Trump has said American oil companies will “fix” Venezuela’s oil infrastructure.
But the initial oil market reaction has been muted with only small falls, which come in contrast to the more pronounced impact on metals’ markets.
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So far on Monday, gold has had a 2.4% boost, silver prices rose about 5% to more than $76 an ounce, and copper gained roughly 3%.
Gold is now hovering around an all-time high, costing $4,435 an ounce.
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“Investors often reach for gold when the news headlines are bleak or worrying as the metal has a reputation for acting as a store of value during uncertain times,” said Russ Mould, investment director at investment platform AJ Bell.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, the senior Analyst at Swiss banking group Swissquote, said it was unsurprising that the metals were “enjoying a positive ride“.
Investors have, at multiple times in the past year, moved money into safe havens, with the metals recording all-time high prices throughout 2025 due to stock market wobbles caused by the US imposition of tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty.
The increased cost of metals is also good news for mining companies, which are among the biggest risers in the UK’s flagship stock index, the FTSE 100 list of most valuable companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Minimal oil moves
After a spike first thing on Monday morning, a barrel of Brent crude, the benchmark oil price, fell to $60.54
It is, however, still more expensive than the $60.07 level seen on Friday and the below $60 prices of mid-December.
Less oil has been leaving Venezuela since the US build up to its interventions. And only 1% of the global supply had been coming from the country beforehand.
Why?
Even with Trump pledging to “run” Venezuela and sell oil “in much larger doses” potentially to “many more” countries than before, it is unlikely to lead to a significant boost to global supply in the short to medium term.
Exports from the country had collapsed in December after the US imposed an “oil quarantine” having seized Venezuelan oil tankers.
Given this fall off, and the continuing exports “quarantine”, which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been imposed to “exert tremendous leverage” over what happens in Venezuela, no glut of oil is expected to enter the global market.
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The US administration has highlighted the need for investment in the country’s ageing oil infrastructure to boost output.
