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Gold price prediction today: Will stellar gold rally run continue in the near term? Here’s the outlook – The Times of India
Gold price prediction today: Gold and silver prices are poised for a long-term bull run, though there may be short term volatility due to global factors, says Maneesh Sharma, AVP – Commodities & Currencies, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers. He shares his views and recommendations for gold and silver investors:Gold continued to shine bright at the start of the current week, climbing past $3,800 per oz for the first time ever in Spot markets. The Yellow metal printed yet another all-time high near $3,871 in Spot on Tuesday after spending much of last week consolidating just below the previous all-time high near $3,791. This was due to positive momentum which returned following the release of the US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation report. While the data came in broadly as expected, bets remain elevated that the US Fed might continue easing its rates in the upcoming meeting in October favoring sentiments in Gold & Silver.Meanwhile in the current week the US faces the risk of a government shutdown effective 1st October unless Congress agrees on new funding legislation. Republican leaders in the House pushed a stopgap bill to extend funding through November 21, but Senate Democrats have refused to back it without policy concessions. The dollar had suffered from rising risk of a US government shutdown and falling oil prices since the weekend, with safe haven currencies like yen emerging as the top performer. President Trump had already stated that a shutdown is now likely after little progress on congressional negotiations. In case of a shutdown, a lower Yen may well remain the favourite trade as history shows it lost 1.5% during the 2018-19 shutdown.Finally, focus also remains on US data due later in the week, with the closely monitored JOLTS report due on Tuesday followed by Payrolls on Friday. An upside surprise in US payrolls may bring in volatility in prices, but data might also be delayed due to the risk of shutdown. An extended shutdown may also result in profit booking moves in global equities leading to risk of a near term correction in prices especially in Silver complex.
Gold Price Outlook:
Weekly View: Volatile week ahead for precious metalsBrace for high volatility in bullion prices especially in silver, on a weekly basis as markets witness a data heavy week along with US shutdown risk to persist in the current week. The department of labor had said that the release of economic data, including Non farm payrolls would be suspended if a US shutdown takes place, which could again bring back safe haven appeal in gold on medium term basis.Any major corrective move in global equities in case of US shutdown in near term, needs to be watched out which could limit upside especially in silver prices. This is due the fact that silver had already witnessed a run up of up to 50 % in prices since 21st of April, the day where Gold hit an all time peak, while gold prices are up only 12 – 13 % since then.Again Gold/Silver ratio which has declined to almost 80 levels on Friday (in International Spot markets) from a high of 107 hit on 21st April is now poised to bounce back in near term to 84 – 85 levels indicating Silver may witness more downside moves as compared to Gold in near term.However from a medium to long term perspective, Gold is still poised to continue its bull run as it may test a level $ 3,950 – 4,000 per oz in spot markets by the end of 2025 or by the start of next year. Long term bias in Silver prices also remains positive as a breach of all-time highs in International markets (hit in Apr 2011 around $ 49.60) could be witnessed by the start of next year.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market and other asset classes given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)
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A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
With donor-advised funds gaining popularity as a vehicle for the wealthy to give back, risks and potential conflicts of interests are emerging — and being put on display in a lawsuit over a family’s $21 million charitable fund.
Philip Peterson, a 63-year-old Kansas resident, filed suit in January alleging that the nonprofit that administers his family’s donor-advised fund has refused to communicate with him and has failed to make charitable grants that he has recommended since early 2024. The suit, filed in Colorado federal court, alleges the Christian nonprofit, called WaterStone, cut off his access to information about the account and that he doesn’t know how the fund has fared since the end of 2023, when it had $21 million in assets.
Counsel for WaterStone, founded as the Christian Community Foundation, said in a statement that the Colorado Springs nonprofit has respected the wishes of Peterson’s late father, who originally created the fund in 2005 and died in 2019.
The case sheds light on the growing uptake, and dangers, of donor-advised funds, or DAFs, which have quickly become one of the most dominant forces in philanthropy. Americans donated nearly $90 billion to DAFs in 2024, per the most recent annual report from the DAF Research Collaborative. According to the most recent data available, DAFs held $326 billion combined in assets in 2024.
For Americans looking to give back and save on taxes, DAFs are marketed as a flexible and simple way to do so, often described as charitable saving accounts or credit cards. Instead of writing a check to a nonprofit, donors contribute cash and other assets to a DAF. While the tax deduction is immediate, the funds can be allocated to charities later.
DAFs, unlike private foundations, are not required to distribute assets within a given timeframe, a common criticism among opponents who say DAFs are wealth hoarding vehicles.
The Peterson case offers a cautionary tale on the tradeoffs – especially when it comes to control. While donors are able to recommend how the funds are distributed to charity, the assets are legally controlled by the organizations that administer the DAF on their behalf. Though these organizations, also known as sponsors, typically respect their donors’ wishes, donors have little recourse if they do not.
“It’s sold to the public as, ‘This is your account, and you can decide where it goes, and you can move it, and you maintain full control.’ But if you don’t give up dominion and control, you don’t get the tax benefits,” said Ray Madoff, tax scholar and professor at Boston College Law School. “There’s a disconnect between the legal rules that govern it and the understanding of the parties. And this case is a perfect example of it.”
How much to give
Peterson told Inside Wealth that the rift with WaterStone started with a disagreement over how much to distribute.
In early 2024, Peterson alleges, WaterStone CEO Ken Harrison told him that the organization was going to keep the fund’s principal in perpetuity and only make grants from investment income. Peterson said he did not agree to the proposal as this would not allow the fund to make its customary annual grants of between $2.3 million and $2.5 million.
He further alleges that in March 2024, after he told Harrison over Zoom that he wanted to move the DAF to another sponsor, Harrison told him never to contact WaterStone again and abruptly ended the call.
Now Peterson is suing to assert his advisory privileges and regain access to the DAF, which was started by his late father, Gordon Peterson, a real estate investor and devout Christian, to support evangelical Christian causes. Peterson ultimately seeks the court to compel WaterStone to transfer the DAF to another organization so he can bring the fund’s giving back up to speed.
He said he requested WaterStone make a $1 million grant in 2024 but does not know if that grant – or if any grants – were issued that year. In 2025, WaterStone notified Peterson it would permit a $400,000 distribution from the fund, he said.
“I made a promise to my father. I promised him that if I was the remaining person on the account that I would direct the funds as I knew that he would 100% approve,” he said. “I want to be a man of my word.”
Philip Peterson, left, pictured with his father Gordon in 2015. Gordon Peterson passed away in 2019.
Courtesy of Philip Peterson
WaterStone declined to comment on specifics of Peterson’s allegations. The deadline for WaterStone to answer the complaint in court or move to dismiss it is mid-March.
“WaterStone has consistently carried out the articulated wishes of the donor since the donor advised fund in question was established,” WaterStone’s legal counsel said in a written statement, referring to Peterson’s father. “The plaintiff in this case is not the donor.”
Andrew Nussbaum, Peterson’s lawyer, said that WaterStone helped Gordon Peterson appoint his wife, Ruth, and son Philip as co-advisors to the DAF before he died. Ruth Peterson died in 2021, leaving Philip Peterson as the sole successor-advisor. Prior to 2024, WaterStone granted Philip Peterson’s grant requests, Nussbaum said.
Nussbaum said the lawsuit could set a chilling precedent if the court upholds WaterStone’s argument that designated successors do not have advisory privileges.
“If WaterStone is right, you’re talking about billions of dollars being beyond any kind of legal reach of the original donor-advisors or their successors to have any oversight related to the funds,” Nussbaum said.
Moreover, Peterson said he believes WaterStone has not honored his father’s wishes. He alleges that WaterStone has delayed or denied his grant recommendations even though they met the mission statement written by his father, which included a list of approved charities.
“I can tell you this: My dad would never have created a donor-advised fund if he knew that this was going to be the outcome. He felt very passionately about this,” he said.
DAF trade-offs
Law professor and DAF critic Roger Colinvaux said in his view, donors who want control of DAF assets are trying to have their cake and eat it too.
“Whether you like DAFs or not, the DAF sponsor is an independent charity. It’s an independent entity, and its duties are not to the donor,” said Colinvaux, professor at the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America. “If the plaintiff wanted the sort of control that the plaintiff seems to want, as evidenced in the complaint, there’s a structure for that, and that’s a private foundation.”
Dana Brakman Reiser, professor at Brooklyn Law School, cautioned that Peterson’s story is a rare scenario. She said the biggest DAF sponsors like Fidelity Charitable and Schwab Charitable (now DAFgiving360) are affiliated with financial institutions and generally inclined to keep donors happy.
“It’s in their interest as long as honoring the donor’s request is not going to get the sponsor in trouble,” she said. Brakman Reiser added that the IRS prohibits using DAF assets to buy gala tickets or pay college tuition.
Still, the interests of sponsors and donor-advisors are rarely perfectly aligned.
Sponsors typically collect fees for managing DAF assets, creating an inherent financial incentive to disburse fewer assets, according to Chuck Collins, the director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank. While community foundations pioneered the DAF model, they are now competing with larger commercially-affiliated sponsors for donors’ dollars, he added.
“More and more, they are having to compete with the commercial DAFs like Fidelity that have very low overhead and don’t take much in the way of fees. And so what’s the business model for a community foundation where, you know, 80% of the donations coming in are from people wanting to create DAFs?” he said. “In reality, their business model now depends on people parking their assets for longer periods of time.”
While Peterson’s case is unusual, it’s not the first legal challenge surrounding DAFs.
In 2018, a hedge fund couple sued Fidelity Charitable, contending the sponsor broke an agreement to liquidate their donated shares gradually and instead sold off 1.93 million shares, a position originally worth $100 million, in a matter of hours. Fidelity Charitable argued that it had followed the law and the case was ruled in their favor.
In another noteworthy debacle, in 2009, a Virginia-based charity called the National Heritage Foundation wiped out 9,000 DAFs worth $25 million combined to pay out creditors after it filed for bankruptcy.
Giving directly to charity doesn’t necessarily guarantee the assets will be used to the donor’s intent. But adding an intermediary into the equation adds another layer of complexity.
The handful of lawsuits filed by donor-advisors over how DAF assets are spent or invested have thus far been largely unsuccessful in court.
In short, according to Colinvaux, courts have upheld that donors have ceded any control in order to qualify for the tax break. If donors had the right to control assets — as opposed to the privilege to advise — they would not be able to claim a deduction, he said.
Nussbaum said Peterson’s case is different as it focuses on his rights to advise grants rather than control over how the assets are investments.
Peterson said he tried to resolve the dispute with Waterstone for about two years before going to court. While he knows his suit faces considerable odds, he said he felt he had no choice.
“People put an enormous amount of trust in these companies, and we’re hopefully going to find out what these companies can and can’t do,” he said. “It may have a big effect on the industry, and I don’t want to be that guy. All I want to do is to be able to continue my father’s legacy.”
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the IRS limitations on use of DAF assets.
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Waitrose is set to remove mackerel from its shelves amid escalating concerns over unsustainable fishing practices.
The retailer said that it is the first major UK supermarket to suspend sourcing of the popular fish.
It said that fresh, chilled, and frozen mackerel, primarily sourced from Scottish waters, will be unavailable to shoppers by 29 April. Tinned varieties will follow once the current stock is depleted.
Conservationists are welcoming the move and urging other supermarkets to follow suit.
The measure comes as governments have repeatedly failed to implement catch limits recommended by scientists, jeopardising the long-term viability of mackerel stocks.
The International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has issued stark warnings, advising a 70 per cent reduction in catches for 2026 across all regional mackerel stocks compared to 2025’s recommended levels.
With the stock consistently fished above sustainable thresholds, this translates to a 77 per cent cut on the 755,143 tonnes scientists estimated would be caught in 2025.
Overfishing has resulted in depleting mackerel stocks in the north-east Atlantic, with Ices saying the species, and the wider fishing industry, could face long-term risks unless countries stick to recommended catch limits.
Waitrose said the decision in December by four of the coastal states which fish mackerel to cut catches by 48 per cent was a step forward, but did not meet Ices advice.
North-east Atlantic mackerel will no longer meet the supermarket’s responsible sourcing requirements in line with the Sustainable Seafood Coalition codes of conduct, the retailer said.
Jake Pickering, head of agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries at Waitrose, said: “By suspending sourcing of mackerel at Waitrose we are reinforcing our ethical and sustainable business commitments, acting to tackle overfishing and protect the long-term health of our oceans and this crucial fish.
“Our customers trust us to source responsibly, and we are closely monitoring the fishery.
“We look forward to bringing mackerel back to our shelves once it meets our high sourcing standards.”
As alternatives, Waitrose is launching a new range of fish products including hot smoked herring, hot smoked peppered herring and hot smoked sweetcure seabass, all of which are Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified.
The retailer said it would also introduce MSC-certified frozen sardines from May as a sustainable replacement for frozen mackerel, and plans to become the first retailer to sell 100 per cent MSC tinned sardines.
Waitrose said it would maintain its relationship with its mackerel suppliers and its new supply of herring, seabass, sardines and trout will be sourced through current supplier partnerships.
But there is currently no predetermined time-frame as to when Waitrose will start sourcing mackerel again.
Marija Rompani, director of ethics and sustainability at the John Lewis Partnership, said: “We believe sustainable food production must balance climate action, nature protection and responsible fish sourcing is fundamental to protecting our oceans.
“We will continue to work closely with suppliers and industry partners to support the recovery and responsible management of fish stocks.”
Charles Clover, co-founder of conservation charity Blue Marine Foundation, said mackerel – one of the largest remaining commercial fish stocks in the north-east Atlantic – had declined 75 per cent in the last 10 years because fishing nations, including the UK, had overfished it.
“They have put too little effort into the task of reaching agreement on a sharing arrangement – and some countries have been awarding themselves more quota than is justified by science,” he said.
“This crisis has been ignored for too long.
“We hope that this action by Waitrose sends it to the top of the political agenda. We call on other retailers to follow Waitrose’s example.”
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