The US is sitting on a hoard of gold that would make even Smaug blush, and with the shiny metal’s price up ~45% this year as investors searched for a safe place to park cash, the US Treasury’s gold reserves rose to a value above $1 trillion yesterday, Bloomberg reported. But…that’s only if you value the gold at the market rate of around $3,824 per ounce, and the US government doesn’t:
- The Treasury values the gold at $42.22 per ounce, a price set in 1973 by Congress, presumably while wearing very loud ties.
- That puts the total value of the 261.5 million ounces sitting in Fort Knox and other vaults at ~$11 billion.
In February, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made comments that sparked speculation among traders that the US would reevaluate its giant pot of gold—something countries including Germany, Italy, and South Africa have done—but Bessent later tamped down that idea, per Bloomberg. Doing so would boost the Treasury’s balance sheet, but could have effects throughout the economy, and would likely send gold’s value plunging if the government tried to sell to reap that value.—AR