Happy anniversary. Twenty-five years ago in March 2000, the dot.com stock market bubble began to burst. Looking back, in the mid-1990s, the dot.com era ushered in a period of explosive growth in information technology and the internet.

Depending on your age, you may not recall when Google didn’t exist for your everyday questions. For reference, Google was founded in 1998 and its search engine became popular in 2000. Before then, if you had a question, people went to the library and used Encyclopedias.

Any new start-up companies searching for capital simply had to add “.com” to the end of their firm name, and they quickly attracted generous venture capital. Many high-flying dot.com stocks never generated any revenue or became profitable, yet their stock prices soared wildly during the build-up to the stock market bubble top.

In 1999 alone, the NASDAQ grew an astonishing 86%. What happens next isn’t so pretty.

From the March 2000 top, over the next two years, the NASDAQ index crashed 77%, bottoming in October 2002. Ouch. That’s a big bust. The dot-com bubble burst opened the door to the economic recession in 2001.

What happened to gold during this time?

Historically, when the stock market plunges, gold prices rise – often substantially. During the dot-com crash years, investors piled into the safety of gold as their investments in the stock market deteriorated sharply and stayed low for over a decade.

From the NASDAQ’s October 2002 low, it took a long fifteen years, before that index set a new all-time high in April 2015. That’s a long time for stock market investors to wait.

Today, there are more than a few on Wall Street who point to the Magnificent Seven technology stocks and see parallels between the current artificial intelligence boom and the 2000 dot.com crash. The huge amount of speculative AI investment, the rapid growth and expansion, and the hype and high expectations around the outcome of future AI tools are eerily

similar. After all, despite billions of dollars of investment into big-tech AI tools, very few of them are profitable and many of these companies stock prices are climbing based on ideas of future potential profit—not actual revenue today.

For investors chasing the AI stock market boom, it’s worth considering the Latin phrase “caveat emptor” which simply means “let the buyer beware.”

Investors may also want to consider bolstering their allocation to gold today. That 77% decline in technology stocks during the dot.com crash was a tough pill for investors to swallow. Gold offers you protection for your wealth and an opportunity to grow your money even if the stock market turns down.

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As gold climbs to record highs, inflation rears its ugly head again and the Trump Administration makes big changes to government, trade and geopolitics, Blanchard spoke with esteemed money manager Peter Boockvar to help you make sense of the current investing environment.

Peter is the Chief Investment Officer at Bleakley Financial Group, a $10 billion wealth management firm and author of The Boock Report, which can be found on Substack. CNBC Fast Money viewers will recognize him as a frequent contributor where he offers his widely followed insights on stocks, the economy, gold and more.

In the wide-ranging discussion below, we uncover a plethora of important investing insights for you to consider now.

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Blanchard: What are the top three risks you see for the U.S. stock market and economy in 2025?

Peter Boockvar: I see three key risks right now. First, the Magnificent 7 stocks lose their dominance as investors question all their artificial intelligence spend and Apple loses its premium valuation because of little growth. Second, the bear market in bonds gets worse as interest rates continue to move higher. Lastly, high valuations in the U.S. leave little room for error.

Blanchard: Do you see risks for expanding military conflict over the next several years?

Peter: We do hope that the Russia/Ukraine war ends as well as the Israel/Hamas war, which could mean a potential downshift in active military conflicts. That said, Iran will remain a threat. And, we’ll be watching China and Taiwan closely.

Blanchard: What are your thoughts on gold’s role in a portfolio today?

Peter: Gold is an important investment asset to own because it’s a form of money. And notably, investors and foreign central banks around the world today want to own less dollars.

Blanchard: How might President Trump’s administration impact the price of gold?

Peter: They are discussing a possible revaluation from how the government currently marks gold reservesto the market price. The current government market value stands at $42, which is significantly lower than the market value of an ounce of gold around $2,926. This action could create a floor under the price of gold at whatever price the Trump Administration chooses to mark our nation’s gold reserves at.

Blanchard: How will the growing consumer demand for gold in India and China impact global gold prices?

Peter: The evidence of the impact is obvious with gold rallying in the face of higher interest rates and the U.S. dollars.

Blanchard: How is the ongoing central bank buying trend, particularly from developing countries, influencing gold prices?

Peter: Central banks should remain persistent gold buyers as they choose to reduce the percentage of their assets in U.S. dollars.

Blanchard: We just saw U.S. CPI jump higher to a 3.0% annual rate. Is gold an effective hedge against inflation?

Peter: Yes. Gold has maintained people’s purchasing power over the history of time much better than fiat currencies have.

Blanchard: How might the U.S. fiscal deficit and growing national debt influence gold prices in 2025?

Peter: Excessive U.S. debts and deficits have definitely caught the attention of the rest of the world. This is one reason why foreigners want to own less U.S. Treasuries and more gold.

Blanchard: What is your outlook for the U.S. economy this year and what could it mean for gold?

Peter: Currently, the U.S. economic outlook is mixed and uneven. There are three main factors powering the economic growth that we have seen. The first driver is high income spending, the second is artificial intelligence spending and thirdly, anything related to government spending. Notably, everything else has been weaker. Gold performs well in the stagflationary environment that we seem to be mired in.

Blanchard: After making 41 new record closing highs in 2024, gold has continued to set new records in early 2025. What does this trend suggest for gold in 2025?

Peter: In the short-term, gold is likely getting overbought. But I’m still positive on the outlook for the price of gold this year.

Blanchard: What are some of the factors that could push gold higher this year?

Peter: A continuation of current trends will continue to drive gold.

Blanchard: How do you see gold performing relative to other precious metals like silver and platinum this year?

Peter: Silver and platinum could catch up in performance.

Blanchard: Is now a good time to buy gold?

Peter: Yes.

Blanchard: If American investors don’t currently have an allocation to gold right now, what is your advice for them?

Peter: Get some.

If you’d like to discuss the content of this report with a Blanchard senior portfolio manager please give us a call today.

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The idea of gold revaluation has been on the perimeter of the gold community for decades. But, recent comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who said “We’re going to monetize the asset side of the U.S. balance sheet” moved the idea of valuing gold at current market price into the mainstream in a hurry.

What is gold revaluation?

Currently, the U.S. Treasury’s gold reserves are valued at about $11 billion—but that’s based on a legacy Bretton Woods gold price of $42.22 per ounce. The gold valuation price on the books is dramatically less than the current price of gold around $2,900 an ounce.

A revaluation would simply involve marking the price of U.S. government gold to the market price of around $2,900 an ounce (or whatever price the government decides).

With the simple push of an accounting pen, a revaluation to current market prices would instantly increase the value of the Treasury’s gold reserves to about $750 billion. The Treasury would essentially record on the books its unrealized gains of American government gold assets.

What could revaluation mean for the gold market?

This would instantly create a floor underneath the price of gold – in effect bringing us back toward a type of gold standard. A revaluation would also reinforce gold’s role in the global financial system – elevating it on equal standing of fiat currency.

What could this mean for the U.S. debt?

One of the benefits of gold revaluation for politicians is that it would instantly add money into the U.S. financial system without having to issue new Treasury bills, notes or bonds. This could be considered another form of quantitative easing and it would dramatically increase the size of the U.S. balance sheet.

For politicians struggling over the deficit and the upcoming debt ceiling challenge that means the Treasury has more money to pay the government’s bills – as the revaluation would in a sense – create new money out of thin air.

Bottom line? This would allow the U.S. Treasury to spend hundreds of billions of dollars without an increase to the national debt. Some on Wall Street warn this could be an inflationary move in and of itself. But, for gold investors that would continue to support rising trend in gold prices not only in the short-term, but over the medium and long-run as well.

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Space enthusiasts will recall astronaut Jack Swigert’s famous message to NASA after an oxygen tank explosion rocked Apollo 13 while traveling to the moon in 1970:

“Houston, we have a problem.”

The same can be said for the Federal Reserve in 2025—when inflation moved in the wrong direction—jumping 0.5% to 3.0% in January, its biggest gain since August 2023.

The Federal Reserve has an inflation problem that won’t go away.

And, while egg prices soared 15.2% last month, the inflation jump isn’t just from eggs. Price increases on shelter, gasoline, and food (including meats, dairy, and fish) and higher used car and truck prices contributed to a broad rise in American consumer goods prices. Prescription medication and car insurance also saw big price jumps last month.

What’s more, these consumer price increases were recorded before the impact of any of President Trump’s new tariffs took effect. That means, there could be more jumps in inflation in the months ahead.

Markets react.

Stocks slumped on the news. Gold climbed to another record high. The precious metal has marched steadily higher since the beginning of the year and is already logging an impressive 11.2% gain as gold approaches the $3,000 an-ounce level. Silver is up 13% since the start of the year.

The surprise 3.0% CPI reading has many on Wall Street rethinking interest rate cuts this year. Many say Federal Reserve rate cuts have now moved to the back burner.

Bottom line?

Inflationary pressures are bubbling hot. Tariff policy could worsen the outlook in the months ahead. Investors should brace for higher volatility in the equity markets and the inflation trend will keep a strong bid under the gold market.

Gold has a rock-solid track record as a store of wealth and is an enduring form of money recognized in every country on the planet. Before stocks tumble more, have you considered rebalancing your portfolio and increasing your allocation to gold? Once stocks start crashing, it will be too late to get your money back.

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