The Daily Chase: Gold, bitcoin rally on eve of U.S. inflation data

Here are five things you need to know this morning.

Gold hits record high: The price of gold has set a new high for eight trading sessions in a row and could be poised to extend the streak on Monday, ahead of a fresh round of inflation numbers out of the U.S. Gold briefly topped US$2,188 an ounce on Monday morning, just shy of the all-time high of $2,193 it set on Friday. Gold tends to do well during times of uncertainty and when investors are fearful. That’s definitely been the case for the last few months, as persistently high inflation eats away at purchasing power, but it’s unclear what the specific catalyst is right now. In testimonies to lawmakers last week, U.S. Fed chair Jerome Powell said the central bank needs more evidence that inflation is cooling before cutting rates. The U.S. inflation rate for February is forecast to be 3.1 per cent, in numbers set to be released on Tuesday. That’s the same level it was at the last time we got numbers – for January.

Bitcoin surging: Cryptocurrency HODLers are taking a victory lap as the price of bitcoin has topped US$72,000 for the first time. The price of the world’s largest crypto token has gained for six days in a row, and taken annual gains north of 70 per cent. The rally has been driven by massive inflows of demand from retail investors into U.S.-listed exchange traded funds that burst on to the scene earlier this year. The basics of supply and demand have taken over since then and there’s reason to think there could be an imbalance in the short term at least as the London Stock Exchange has confirmed it will soon accept applications for its own suite of notes based on crypto.

Reddit IPO details: We got new details about one of the most hotly-anticipated IPOs of the year on Monday as Reddit filed paperwork with regulators showing it plans to sell 22 million shares of itself at a price range of up to US$34 per share. That would bring in $748 million to the company’s coffers, and value the entire entity at a little over $6.5 billion. That’s down from the $10 billion the company was worth in a funding round in 2021, but a lot has changed since then. Founded in 2005, Reddit averaged more than 73 million daily active unique viewers in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to a regulatory filing. It had total revenue of $804 million last year, and booked a net loss of $91 million last year. That’s a smaller net loss than the $159 million it lost in 2022 on $667 million in revenue.