The New Great Wall of China

For years, investors have looked at China’s gold production, its central bank buys, and scratched their heads.

The Chinese have infamously refrained from making significant changes to its gold holding reports.

While its central bank continues to keep mum, private research sources suggest total gold supplies in China are soaring:

Turn Your Images On

During the global inflation era unleashed by pandemic spending, China began aggressively selling U.S. Treasurys and buying gold. (Source: Steno Research)

The people’s party appears to be constructing a 21st century Great Wall: Built out of gold, and less susceptible to losses than a fiat currency like the U.S. dollar.

Some historic irony, here.

China invented paper currencies in the Tang Dynasty in the 7th Century. Known then by the Mandarin characters that mean “flying cash,” the currency, like all paper money, lost its value.

Today, as the rest of the world goes all-in on fiat, and begins to digitize the dollar, China’s rediscovery of gold as an asset suggests that gold’s run isn’t over… yet.

~ Addison

P.S. This week on Grey Swan Live! we’re planning a special two-fer for you. On Thursday, October 23, 2025 at 2 p.m. ET we’re going to do a run down of all the historical records this terrifying bull market has already hit — including retail investor buy-in, record margin debt and capital concentration at the top of the S&P 500.

We’re going to lay out in simple terms the AI crash scenario. Mostly, so you’re aware of what’s at stake, where we are in the mania and exactly what we expect to happen.

As Andrew Ross Sorkin, author of Too Big To Fail, said this week while promoting his new book “1929,” if we’re all in agreement this is a bubble in AI stocks, the trick is to “know when to get on [and more importantly] get off, the wave.”

Then, on Friday, October 24, 2025 at 2 p.m. ET, we’re going to do a comprehensive asset allocation and model portfolio review for paid-up annual members of the Grey Swan Investment Fraternity.

During the review session on Friday, we’ll be giving you access to an exclusive Plunge Protection Plan (for annual members only) including ways you can protect your money against a stock market correction and a few aggressive ways you can make money like the pros when the stock market goes down.

We’ll be providing more details throughout the week. But for now mark your calendar for these two dates:

Thursday, October 23, 2025 @ 2 p.m. ET — comprehensive overview of the “terrifying bull market.”
Friday, October 24, 2025 @ 2 p.m. ET — a comprehensive review of the Grey Swan asset allocation strategy and model portfolio. (For paid up annual members only)

The time to prepare for a market correction is before it happens, not while or after. If you wait to long, the the exits will get crowded in a hurry… and you don’t want to be worrying about your money if and when that happens.

If you have any questions for us about the market, send them our way now to: feedback@greyswanfraternity.com.

For years, investors have looked at China’s gold production, its central bank buys, and scratched their heads.

The Chinese have infamously refrained from making significant changes to its gold holding reports.

While its central bank continues to keep mum, private research sources suggest total gold supplies in China are soaring:

Turn Your Images On

During the global inflation era unleashed by pandemic spending, China began aggressively selling U.S. Treasurys and buying gold. (Source: Steno Research)

The people’s party appears to be constructing a 21st century Great Wall: Built out of gold, and less susceptible to losses than a fiat currency like the U.S. dollar.

Some historic irony, here.

China invented paper currencies in the Tang Dynasty in the 7th Century. Known then by the Mandarin characters that mean “flying cash,” the currency, like all paper money, lost its value.

Today, as the rest of the world goes all-in on fiat, and begins to digitize the dollar, China’s rediscovery of gold as an asset suggests that gold’s run isn’t over… yet.

~ Addison

We’re going to lay out in simple terms the AI crash scenario. Mostly, so you’re aware of what’s at stake, where we are in the mania and exactly what we expect to happen.

Then, on Friday, October 24, 2025 at 2 p.m. ET, we’re going to do a comprehensive asset allocation and model portfolio review for paid-up annual members of the Grey Swan Investment Fraternity.

We’ll be providing more details throughout the week. But for now mark your calendar for these two dates:

Thursday, October 23, 2025 @ 2 p.m. ET — comprehensive overview of the “terrifying bull market.”
Friday, October 24, 2025 @ 2 p.m. ET — a comprehensive review of the Grey Swan asset allocation strategy and model portfolio. (For paid up annual members only)

If you have any questions for us about the market, send them our way now to: feedback@greyswanfraternity.com.

Mustafa Suleyman, who leads Microsoft’s AI initiatives, told the Financial Times that most white-collar professional tasks could be automated within 12 to 18 months.

Lawyers, accountants, marketers, project managers — anything related to desk work faces compression.

Challenger data showed 7,624 January layoffs attributed directly to AI — about 7% of the month’s total. Since 2023, AI has been linked to nearly 79,500 announced job cuts. Morgan Stanley’s Stephen Byrd cautioned clients that measurable macroeconomic impact may lag several years.

In Silicon Valley, Mercor quietly hired tens of thousands of highly credentialed contractors at $45 to $250 per hour to train large language models for OpenAI and Anthropic.

Despite a stock market within 3% of its all-time highs, your portfolio likely feels a bigger pinch right now.

Fears of high spending on AI are leading to another pullback in the market’s biggest names. The Mag 7 stocks are collectively 10% off their peak, and now in correction territory.

Private education and health services accounted for the bulk of job creation over the past year.

Over the last twelve months, that category added roughly 780,000 positions. Excluding those gains, the economy shed approximately 350,000 jobs.

Manufacturing, the purported object of Trump’s tariff strategy, declined by about 100,000 in 2025. Transportation and warehousing fell by more than 100,000. Professional and business services contracted. Information and financial activities declined.

Federal employment dropped again in January, down 42,000. The civilian federal workforce now sits roughly 11% below its October 2024 peak.

Most investors are familiar with the price-to-earnings, or PE, ratio. But what if you invert that, and divide earnings by price? You get what’s called the “earnings yield.”

Earnings yield on the S&P 500 is near a 100-year low.