Lana

Silver suffered even more, crashing by a third on Friday in its worst day since 1980, with losses spilling over into Monday, too.

Here's what gives.

Investors are expecting the Federal Reserve's new chairman to take a tough stance on inflation, likely keeping interest rates higher for longer, which would further prop up the U.S.

dollar.

When the dollar strengthens, gold and silver become more expensive for foreign buyers.

Now combine that with how precious metals can become less attractive than interest-paying assets when rates go up, and you have a double whammy that pushes prices down.

To make matters worse, the fact that so many investors had piled into precious metals in recent months made the exit very crowded.

That means a lot of sellers and very few buyers, pushing prices even further down.

Gold, oil, stocks, and crypto have all crashed together in this sell-off, which might make you think diversification's a waste of time.

But that's like judging a whole movie from a single chaotic freeze frame.

See, in a rush for cash, investors don't carefully prune based on long-term logic.

They offload whatever they can sell quickly to plug holes elsewhere.

That means assets with very different long-term paths can end up falling for the same short-term reason.

And smart diversification is about spreading out your risk over the long haul, rather than guaranteeing that nothing ever drops at the same time in a full-blown stampede.

Before we dive into the next story, it's time for our daily check-in with Carl.

You've got questions, he's got answers.

Carl, what have you got for us?

Thanks, Carl.

Next up, Elon Musk is reportedly in advanced talks to combine SpaceX with XAI, a move that could shift the hefty costs of his grandest ambitions onto a single supercharged empire.

Musk wants two of his babies to live under the same roof — SpaceX, the rocket and satellite business, and XAI, the AI startup that hit a $200 billion valuation last September.