FBI Director Firing Has U.S. on Edge, Helping Gold Prices
Political upheaval in the U.S. surrounding the decision to fire FBI Director James Comey is causing concern among investors, which has led to resurgent gold prices.
The commodity traded at $1,229 on Friday as the U.S. finds itself mired in another political standoff. While previous months were characterized by potential military action coming from outside the U.S., this week’s trouble is more domestic in origin.
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Former FBI Director Comey was cut by the presidential administration of Donald Trump. This is an irregular move as the sitting FBI director has only even been fired once before in the history of the organization, and that took place under vastly different circumstances. In 1993, then-President Bill Clinton dismissed William Sessions as the result of an ethics investigation.
The reasoning for Comey’s dismissal is less sound. During the campaign, Trump praised Comey’s investigation into then-candidate Hillary Clinton’s emails. Now, Trump has gone back and used the handling of that investigation as part of the reason for Comey’s firing.
To make matters more complicated, Comey was leading the inquiry into the level of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. Trump has been accused by many on the left as having been helped by Russian agents, often citing the massive data leak of the Democratic National Committee as having been a cyberattack orchestrated by Russia.
The uncertainty that has followed the dismissal of Comey—with politicians on both sides of the political spectrum now calling for an independent investigation into the alleged Trump-Russia ties—has prompted some investors to once again seek out gold as a safe haven asset.
In times of political turmoil, gold prices are often the beneficiaries as traders seek out investments that would be immune or at least guarded against any sort of radical shift in the economy.
