While Western “experts” shout doom for gold, Zijin Mining, China’s—and the world’s—gold master, quietly collects treasures abroad like a wise elder spreading seeds: patiently, strategically, and profitably.
Its C$5.5B ($4B) purchase of Canada’s Allied Gold brings tier-one African mines into the fold, from Mali to Côte d’Ivoire to Ethiopia, turning Zijin into a global player without breaking a sweat.

https://asia.nikkei.com/business/business-deals/china-s-zijin-to-buy-canadian-owner-of-gold-mines-in-3-african-countries

With Beijing eyeing assets beyond the USD, Zijin proves that true power grows quietly—while others just talk.

As Washington closed its doors yet again, the factories keep the good to work to try to Make America Great Again: U.S. manufacturing surprised in January with its fastest expansion since 2022, as the ISM index leapt to 52.6, powered by a sharp revival in new orders and production. Like a Confucian student thriving when the master is absent, demand returned after a long winter of contraction—backlogs grew, exports improved, and lean customer inventories hinted at further momentum ahead. Yet wisdom tempers enthusiasm: part of the strength reflects post-holiday restocking and buying ahead of tariff-driven price increases, while input costs and delivery delays are still rising. In short, the workshop hums again—but the bill for materials remains stubbornly high.

In a nutshell, U.S. manufacturing jumped back into expansion in January, led by surging orders and production, but with rising costs quietly reminding investors that nothing comes free.

In his finest display of the “Don Roe” doctrine, Tariff Man set out to wedge the dragon and the elephant apart by dangling tariff sweeteners before India—on the condition that New Delhi abandons discounted Russian oil for barrels blessed by “Great America” and newer-elastic 51st state, Venezuela. The pledge may last about as long as a Truth Social post stays pinned, because if enforced it would shove India right back under the age-old curse of higher oil prices—the very force that has haunted the rupee and stirred social unrest for a century. Having finally cracked the code by buying cheap Russian crude and paying in local currency, India is now invited to relearn an ancient lesson: geopolitics makes for terrible energy policy.

Under the grand illusion of “Project Vault,” Washington pulled a Donald Copperfield move—making America’s critical-minerals vulnerability disappear on paper with a $12 billion strategic stockpile. Backed by a $10 billion Ex-Im Bank loan and private capital, the plan mimics a Strategic Petroleum Reserve for shiny essentials like lithium, cobalt, gallium, and graphite, all meant to keep EVs humming, jets flying, and smartphones glowing—without calling Beijing first. With GM, Boeing, Google, and a few commodity traders cheering from the front row, the message is clear: when China controls the mine and the refiner, the only Western magic trick left is to buy everything in advance and call it national security.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-rare-earth-minerals-stockpile-12-billion/

Against a $400–450 billion global critical-minerals market—heading toward $1 trillion by decade’s end—the U.S. $12 billion allocation looks less like a strategic masterstroke and more like loose change under the sofa. Demand for lithium, cobalt, nickel, rare earths, graphite, and copper is exploding with EVs, energy storage, and electrification, neatly underscoring the irony: critical minerals now run geopolitics, but the West’s response is still sized for a pocket calculator

What once looked like boring rocks now decide who builds, who fights, and who wins—critical minerals are redrawing the global order.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/the-macro-butlers-monthly-meditation-a85

Thanks to January’s fashionable “micro shutdown,” the ADP report briefly became America’s favorite labor oracle—and it delivered less magic than Washington’s talking points. Private payrolls rose a mighty 22,000, missing every estimate in sight and quietly confirming that the job market is cooling, not cruising. With the official BLS numbers delayed, reality leaked out anyway: hiring isn’t collapsing, but it’s clearly lost its pulse, as layoffs at big names make headlines and job growth limps along, carried mostly by education and healthcare.

In short, the labour market isn’t falling apart—it’s just stuck in neutral, no matter how loudly the propaganda engine revs.

The new year’s optimism is doing its best impression of a double espresso for U.S. services. The ISM Services Index held at a perky 53.8 in January—the strongest back-to-back showing since 2024—officially keeping the expansion party alive. Business activity surged, orders politely tapped the brakes, and employment barely crawled forward, which nicely matches the ADP report showing hiring enthusiasm has gone on a diet. Prices, meanwhile, woke up grumpy and climbed to a three-month high, supplier deliveries slowed, and export demand quietly exited the room. In short: services are growing, but under the hood it looks less like a boom and more like a treadmill—lots of movement, not much forward progress.

In a nutshell, U.S. services are expanding on paper, but beneath the headline it’s a treadmill economy: activity up, hiring barely breathing, prices rising, and demand quietly losing steam.

Between flights and coffee refills, The Macro Butler squeezed in a dawn pit stop at BFM 89.9 to explain why Wall Street is stuck in a 2026 washing machine cycle, why AI without power is just expensive fiction, why energy producers are the new El Dorado—and why Japan seems determined to audition yet another lame-duck prime minister.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/interview-with-bfm-899-malaysia-02012026-602

Above the skyline of the Lion City, The Macro Butler sat down for a compelling in-person interview with Arigato Investor, exploring how to invest in a polarized world—staying calm and why gold, silver, and platinum deserve a permanent seat in every serious portfolio.

The interview will be released soon—stay tuned.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/meeting-with-arigato-investor

While YouTubers are busy calling the end of the precious-metals bull market, the Bank of England is congratulating itself for “defeating” inflation—by gently pushing Britain toward a jobs crisis. With rates kept restrictive, the BoE now expects unemployment to overshoot its own forecasts by roughly 110,000 people, reviving the old tradition of sacrificing jobs on the altar of price stability. Officials swear they don’t welcome unemployment (history begs to differ), but they’re still waiting for “more evidence” before cutting rates, even as hiring freezes spread and younger workers take the hit.

In short: inflation may be almost tamed, growth is wobbling, jobs are disappearing quietly, and the BoE is proudly declaring this a delicate balancing act—while hoping the safety net appears just in time.

Across the Channel, the ECB—firmly steered by the Educated-Yet-Idiots school of central banking—did absolutely nothing, proudly keeping rates unchanged and declaring inflation to be in a “good place.” Chairwoman Lagarde dismissed the euro’s rally as perfectly normal, called the economy “resilient,” offered zero guidance, and promised to remain “data-dependent,” which in ECB language means watching everything while committing to nothing. Inflation slipping below target is, of course, only “temporary,” the strong euro is “not a target,” and rising trade frictions are merely a reminder that policymakers need “full optionality.”

In short: inflation is fine, growth is fragile, risks are everywhere, leadership changes are coming—and the ECB assures us monetary policy is agile, balanced, and very much under control.

After a soft ADP print and an NFP delayed by yet another Washington “micro-shutdown,” the labour market delivered its latest plot twist: U.S. employers announced 108,435 job cuts in January—the worst January since 2009—while hiring plans collapsed to a record-low 5,306. So much for “cooling”; this is confidence quietly packing its bags. Layoffs aren’t about AI taking over the world, but about old-fashioned realities like weaker demand, lost contracts, and rising costs. Employers planned these cuts back in late 2025, clearly expecting a rough 2026, and the message is simple: when hiring disappears and layoffs surge before the year even gets going, this isn’t seasonality—it’s the economy blinking first.

In a nutshell, Job cuts just hit their worst January since 2009 while hiring plans fell to record lows—proof that confidence has left the labor market long before the headlines caught up.