Key takeaways
- This week, Clem Chambers told Kitco that the two-year Nasdaq bubble will be fueled by AI spending and deficit money printing in the United States.
- Gold, at $4,700, is the key signal of the outcome of Trump’s Beijing summit and the risk in Taiwan. Following the interview with Chambers, gold was trading at $4,540 per ounce on May 17.
- Copper, industrial batteries and grid capacity are the main choke points investors should watch now, according to Online Blockchain CEO.
Clem Chambers calls out two-year Nasdaq bubble as AI spending, US deficits drive rally
Chambers spoke with Kitco News anchor Jeremy Szafron this week during a interview which affected global assets and the economy. Gold stood at nearly $4,700 an ounce during the discussion, while silver fell more than 3%, platinum more than 3% and palladium almost 4%. Chambers said the discrepancy was significant because gold functions as a real-time signal of geopolitical risk, particularly as it relates to U.S.-China relations.
” Gold is like a thermostat,” Chambers remarked. If the president AssetBeijing’s visit to Beijing resulted in significant private agreements, gold will decline in the days and weeks to come. If negotiations fail behind closed doors, gold will rise higher. A flat rate price, he said, means little has been resolved. So far, since the interview with Chambers, gold drifted lower, losing three percentage points during the last week of trading sessions.
Chambers rejected the idea that gold a rise in parallel with stocks signals a contradiction. He said gold increases as a conflict approaches because nations accumulate it in anticipation, and it is a reduction in the risk of conflict that causes it to decrease. Trump’s visit to Beijing, he added, is the reverse of Nixon’s overture to China in 1972, where the United States sought to bring China into global trade. Trump is now trying to redefine the terms of this relationship.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced in Beijing that the two countries were discussing an investment mechanism aimed at accelerating deals and reducing tariffs on non-critical products. Chambers called the approach transactional, not antagonistic, and said China’s interest in stable trade makes a deal possible if both sides avoid escalation. The Taiwan issue, he stressed, remains the main unresolved variable.
Regarding the AI business, Chambers told Szafron that investors are still focusing too much on semiconductors and software while ignoring the physical supply chain that holds all development together. It identified electrical capacity as the main bottleneck, followed by copper, industrial batteries, grid infrastructure and backup power systems.
“There’s just not enough copper to go around,” he said. He pointed to Caterpillar’s rising stock price as evidence that demand for backup generators has already outstripped supply, with delivery queues stretching far and wide. Another example of a company driven by demand for AI infrastructure is Cisco, which he flagged publicly before the stock soared 20% overnight.
He also pointed out that Nokia, now hired by Nvidia to integrate AI into the backend of 6G networks, is the kind of overlooked company that benefits from the tightening physical supply chain.
Chambers described the current moment as the transition from boom to bubble. He said history shows that people who exit early in a bubble miss out on most of the gains. The right move, he says, is to stay positioned and look to companies that make development physically possible, like cable makers, silicon wafer producers, and energy storage companies like Enersys.
THE inflation the risk is real, he said during the conversation, but investment in productive assets generates economic activity, taxes and jobs in a way that consumption transfers do not. This distinction prevents this wave of money printing from becoming hyperinflationary, even though it will drive up prices across the board.
On liquidityChambers stated that Federal Reserve managed the market by monitoring the S&P 500 and pulling levers when the index approached systemic risk levels. The bazooka deployed during the Iran-related market crash and Silicon Valley Bank collapse followed this pattern. This management approach, he said, is what gives the current bubble room to maneuver.
The U.S. budget deficit remains the long-term risk that Chambers is watching most closely. He said the deficit is growing faster than any credible offset and while it won’t kill the dollar, it will keep it there. inflation high and profitable investors positioned in sustainable assets and productive infrastructure.
Chambers concluded by telling investors that the next two years hold real opportunities, but only for those who understand that the AI business runs as much through copper mines, power grids and cable factories as it does through chip designers.
