The Iran War Has Shaken Up Asset Prices—From Gold to Oil and Bitcoin—After Its First Month

As of Friday afternoon, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) and the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) are down 14% and 25%, respectively, since the start of the war. The United States Brent Oil Fund (BNO), is up 51%, and the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) is flat.

Spot gold prices are still aloft, at about $4,530 per troy ounce, in spite of the recent underperformance. Silver is sitting at around $70. Bitcoin is near $66,000.

Crude oil prices surged to record highs since the U.S. and Israel's initial strikes on Iran a month ago. Brent futures, the international benchmark, late Friday traded at around $106 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. yardstick, at just under $100, levels not seen since the pandemic. Between the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade passageway, and the destruction to the energy complex in the Middle East, the shock to the global energy market has started to draw comparisons to historic oil crises. And President Donald Trump's moves this week to de-escalate tensions with Iran, pausing military attacks in a bid to negotiate a hard-to-land deal, don't appear to have soothed crude markets.