Peter Krauth: Silver Market “Very Tight,” Watch This Price Trigger

Another week, another gold price record.

The yellow metal rose to a new high once again on Thursday (February 20), moving past the US$2,950 per ounce level for the first time ever. As gold’s rise continues, it’s becoming increasingly clear that it’s being pushed higher by a strong base of underlying drivers, as well as day-to-day events.

This week’s headlines have centered on a possible audit of Fort Knox, a US Army installation in Kentucky. Fort Knox reportedly holds 147.3 million ounces of gold, but the last-known audit took place in 1953, and in the decades since then questions have been raised about whether the metal is intact.

The latest audit talk started when tech billionaire Elon Musk responded to a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which a user said it would be “great” to have Musk look into Fort Knox’s gold.

Musk responded, “Surely it’s reviewed at least every year?” This comment prompted a response from Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), who has advocated for increased transparency regarding the gold at Fort Knox for years. He signaled support for an audit with his reply, “Nope. Let’s do it.”

The idea has gained traction since then, with President Donald Trump quickly getting behind it — speaking to reporters on Air Force One, he said, “If the gold isn’t there, we’re going to be very upset.”

While Fort Knox has been a big story for gold this week, there are plenty of other developments in the space worth tracking. The Investing News Network spoke with Craig Hemke of TFMetalsReport.com about the continued flow of gold from London to New York, and he suggested that the mainstream narrative that tariff concerns are driving this movement could be wrong.

Instead, he believes the US may be preparing to monetize its gold, and could be bringing the precious metal into the country for that reason. Hemke emphasized that there are many unknowns, but pointed to recent comments from Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent to support this idea.

“Within the next 12 months we’re going to monetize the asset side of the US balance sheet for the American people. We’re going to put the assets to work, and I think it’s going to be very exciting” — US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent

When asked what other under-the-radar issues market participants may be missing, Hemke reminded investors not to forget the importance of central bank gold buying, which remains strong, and physical supply and demand numbers for gold as well as silver.