The Wrap: Trump Does Nada in Davos Jim Rickards on the Asymmetry of Gold

January 23, 2026 | This week in “The Wrap,” we report in summary fashion about the latest events in Washington and Wall Street this week. The Trump Administration departed from Davos with a variety of “wins,” but there was nothing substantive about housing affordability or really anything else. Below is the latest podcast from Julia LaRoche with our friend James Rickards.

Trump in Davos: Rickards does not think that the Trump Administration is "chaotic," but the President certainly likes to use surprise and hyperbole to advance key priorities. But why does everyone in Europe take Donald Trump so seriously? The President likes to get everyone riled up, then walks back his ask. Classic Trump.

Has anyone in the EU read “The Art of the Deal?” Have world leaders forgotten how to play poker (or bridge)?  Trump is the only major world figure who understands that politics is a game. Maybe Vladmir Putin also. Greenland is a case in point. Trump despises EU leaders as much as Putin and loves to play on their emotions. 

Federal Reserve: National Economic Director Kevin Hassett appears to be out of the running to replace Jay Powell as Fed chair. The DOJ’s investigation of Powell may have doomed Hassett’s candidacy. We spoke about the selection process for a new Fed chairman last week on Bloomberg TV:

Kevin Warsh is now considered the favorite, but BlackRock’s Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Rick Rieder – apparently the candidate Trump most recently interviewed – is reportedly gaining momentum and may be the beneficiary of recency and outsider bias. We think former Governor Warsh is the better choice, but Trump seems determined to mishandle the process of selecting a new Fed chairman.

Housing: Trump comments on housing in Davos were largely a non-event. The POTUS apparently wants home prices to go up, not down.  But his proposal to ban institutional investment in residential housing will reduce the supply of new homes, especially new rent-to-own properties. Trump:

“Homeownership has always been a symbol of the health and vigor of American society, but that goal fell out of reach for millions and millions of people in the Biden era… Homes are built for PEOPLE, not for corporations — and America will NOT become a nation of renters… That’s why I have signed an executive order banning large institutional investors from buying single-family homes… And I’m calling on Congress to pass that ban into permanent law.”

Congress is unlikely to take action on President Trump's proposal. The bias in America is up for prices because everyone loves inflation. Inflation is good for gold and old people, bad for young aspiring homeowners and politics in general. Rising prices for housing and everything else are radicalizing American politics.

MTS Observer: "When housing is viewed as an investment by a cohort of politically vociferous Americans, a policy of monetary debasement and asset inflation...will follow in order to appease that cohort."

Thankfully President Trump distanced himself from the idea of pulling cash out of 401(k) plans to purchase a home. Enabling more buyers for a limited number of homes means higher prices. So far, none of the trial balloons floated by the Trump-Bill Pulte-Howard Lutnick housing troika have panned out. As we have noted before, demand side policies are really all that Washington knows and will only push up home prices until supply catches up.

Gold Breaks $5,000

Speaking of rising prices, gold and silver have experienced an explosive, record-breaking week as of January 23, 2026, with gold exceeding $5,000 an ounce on Friday and silver breaching the $100 per ounce mark for the first time. Both metals are experiencing their best weekly performance since 2020, driven by geopolitical tensions, a weak dollar, and safe-haven buying. 

We spent two days with author and economic analyst Jim Rickards at The Lotos Club in New York this week for a series of private meetings. He noted that gold remains a largely asymmetrical trade and that central bank buying, supply limitations and other factors are likely to keep gold moving higher. The key caveat Jim notes, however, is that when any commodity moves as high and as fast as gold and silver, there will be a correction. 

FDIC Grants Industrial Loan Charters

The big news in finance this week came from the FDIC approving industrial loan company (ILC) applications for Ford (F) and General Motors (GM).  Until 2024, the FDIC did not really process industrial bank applications and had not approved a larger proposal in over 20 years.  Now the moratorium is ended and we expect to see more applications for industrial banks. Nissan (NSANY) and Stellantis (STLA) both have applications pending.

Notice that both of these new entities are being set up to take deposits, a model that an independent mortgage bank (IMB) or nonbank lender could follow. The banks set up by F and GM will buy financing assets from dealers. IMBs could buy loans and MSRs from a nonbank affiliate. Owning an ILC gives you access to the Fed payments system, a master account, the standing repo facility, and the discount window. ILCs may also become Fed members and members of the Federal Home Loan Banks. 

Currently, only seven states—Utah, California, Nevada, Hawaii, Minnesota, Indiana, and Colorado—have statutes allowing the chartering of Industrial Loan Companies (also known as industrial banks). Among these, Utah is the most active, hosting the majority of ILC charters due to its permissive regulatory environment. But Indiana, for example, was one of the first states to offer the industrial bank charter. 

Morris Plan Banks (established 1910) are the direct ancestors of modern ILCs, acting as the original model for providing consumer credit to industrial workers ignored by traditional banks. Founded by Arthur J. Morris  in Norfolk, VA, they pioneered installment loans based on character and co-makers. Today ILCs offer industrial companies with a powerful way to access banking functions without becoming a bank holding company. 

WGA has advised on a number of ILC proposals by nonbanks over the years. Please reach out if you'd like to discuss.

The End of Tri-Merge?

Finally, our latest column in National Mortgage News is below. This week we looked at the proposal by the Mortgage Bankers Association to end the requirement for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to pull three separate credit reports from the major data repositories for prime conventional loans.

In a December 2025 letter to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, the Mortgage Bankers Association noted that "the current GSE requirement to obtain a report from each of the three credit reporting agencies creates a situation where there is no competition between bureaus for the product."  

The MBA wants to eliminate the requirement for borrowers above a 700 FICO. This is one of the few proposals in Washington that may actually reduce the cost of a mortgage loan, but there may be negative consequences for this practice if it spreads to loans below a 700 FICO. 

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