Five Numbers to Open June — Jun 1, 2026
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"Gold is money. Everything else is credit." — J.P. Morgan, testifying before Congress in 1912
Jun 1, 2026
Gold Closed Friday Near a Record $4,546 an Ounce — Up Roughly 70% Since New Year's and on Pace for Its Best Year Since 1979 — While the S&P 500 Sits at Its Own Record Above 7,500, Meaning the Fear Trade and the Greed Trade Are Topping Out in the Same Week
Gold settled around $4,546 to end May, up about 70% year-to-date from roughly $2,680 in January — a run that, if it holds, would be bullion's strongest year since the inflation-soaked 1970s. What's strange is the company it's keeping: the S&P 500 closed Friday at 7,580, near its own all-time high, so the asset people buy when they're terrified and the assets they buy when they're greedy are setting records at the same moment. Central banks have done much of the heavy lifting, swapping dollars for metal at the fastest clip on record, while a war, 3.8% inflation, and a ballooning deficit handled the rest. When gold and stocks rally together like this, the thing quietly losing value is usually the currency both are priced in.
Source: COMEX / LBMA Gold Price / World Gold Council
The Economy Has Added an Average of Just 76,000 Jobs a Month in 2026 — Roughly a Third of the 2023–24 Pace — and Friday's May Report Is Expected to Show Another Soft +89,000 With Unemployment Stuck at 4.3%
It's jobs week, and the bar keeps getting quietly lowered. Payrolls have grown by an average of about 76,000 a month so far this year, down from the 200,000-plus pace that was routine in 2023 and 2024, and the Bloomberg consensus for Friday's May reading is a tepid +89,000. Yet the unemployment rate has barely moved off 4.3%, because the labor force itself is shrinking — participation is drifting toward lows last seen outside the pandemic — so the economy needs far fewer jobs just to hold the line. Economists call it a low-hire, low-fire market: almost no one is getting laid off, and almost no one is getting hired either. It's a strange kind of stability, hard to lose your job and just as hard to find a new one.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Employment Situation / Bloomberg economist survey
Americans Are Heading Into the Summer Driving Season Paying Around $4.48 a Gallon — About $1.50 More Than Before the War — Even Though Crude Just Logged Its Worst Month Since the Pandemic, Down Nearly 19% in May
The unofficial start of summer arrived with the national average for regular gas hovering near $4.48 a gallon, roughly $1.50 above where it sat before the February strikes on Iran and the priciest entrance to a driving season since 2022. Here's the maddening part: crude actually had a brutal May, with Brent down nearly 19% — its worst month since the Covid crash — on hopes a 60-day deal will finally reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Pump prices, though, fall like a feather and rise like a rocket, so relief at the station always shows up a few weeks behind the drop in the oil pits. Six states are still averaging north of $5, and California is past $6.
Source: AAA Fuel Prices / U.S. Energy Information Administration
Tariffs Are on Track to Raise a Record $300 Billion-Plus This Year — the Largest Tax Increase as a Share of the Economy Since 1993 — at an Average Cost of Roughly $1,500 per U.S. Household
Buried under the war-and-inflation headlines is a record the government doesn't mind setting: tariff revenue is pouring in faster than ever, with gross customs duties topping $34 billion in a single month to open the fiscal year and full-year 2026 collections tracking toward $300 billion or more — up from under $80 billion as recently as 2024. The Tax Foundation pegs it as the biggest tax increase as a share of GDP since 1993, working out to about $1,500 a year for the average household. The catch is who pays: tariffs are collected from U.S. importers, who pass the cost down the chain, which is part of why the inflation prints keep running hot. It's revenue, sure. It's also a sales tax that never shows up on the receipt.
Source: Tax Foundation / U.S. Treasury — Daily Treasury Statement
On a Lighter Note: For the First Time in Its 156-Year History, a Single-Day Gate Ticket to Cedar Point Tops $100 This Summer — Landing at $105, Up From $38 in 2000
Cedar Point, the Ohio park that bills itself as the roller coaster capital of the world, just cleared a milestone with nothing to do with loops or drops: a single-day ticket bought at the gate now runs $105, the first time it's crossed $100 since the place opened in 1870. Back in 2000 that same ticket was $38 — a 176% climb in twenty-five years, comfortably outrunning inflation. The saving grace is that almost nobody actually pays the gate price; book online or buy a season pass and it's a fraction of that. Think of it as the theme-park version of never paying sticker at the car dealership.
Source: Cedar Point / Inside the Magic