Gold, Copper or Oil: Which One is Best for Our Portfolio?

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📈 Download the full Portfolio Performance Slides View the portfolio breakdown here 📧 Get in touch: [email protected] 📱 Behind the scenes: @_theartofinvesting on TikTok 🎧 Listen on: Apple, Spotify, YouTube

This week on The Art of Investing, Spice goes digging in the portfolio's worst performer of its second year, and the chairman finally gets off the fence.

Fresh from being crowned Best Economist Creator at the FinFluencer Awards, Rich McDonald, Mark 'Spice' Holden and Chris 'CJ' Fellingham start with oil, where Spice's gut says a US move on Iran's Kharg Island could be close.

Then it's a packed week of results, from a blockbuster SpaceX to disappointing miners, plus Rich's warning on the 3x leveraged ETPs retail investors are piling into.

Spice reports back from a Bloomberg commodities conference on copper and the miners, and finally, with the portfolio down 2.6% in its second year, the chairman makes his move, trimming risk and raising cash to 22.5%.

This Week's Highlights: 🛢️ Oil, Kharg Island and the US Midterms Why Spice is braced for escalation in the Middle East.

🚀 Earnings Season: SpaceX Soars, Netflix Stumbles SpaceX and Tesla impress, while Netflix, BHP and Anglo American disappoint.

⚠️ The Danger of 3x Leveraged ETPs Why one 3x chip product fell 33% in a single week.

⛏️ Copper vs Aluminium: Inside the Mining Sector Data centre demand, tight supply and why the miners may offer better value than the metal.

🇬🇧 Budget, Inflation and Rate Rises UK inflation hits 3.5% ahead of next week's Budget and the Bank of England's 5th November meeting.

🛡️ Bull Market or Wall of Worry? CJ makes the bull case, then battens down the hatches.

Portfolio Snapshot – Week 62: 📊 Weekly portfolio performance: -1.2% 📈 Total return since inception: +23.2% 📅 2026 year-to-date return: +10.7%

Top Performers: 📈 iShares Russell 2000 ETF: +1.5% 📈 iShares Core FTSE 100 ETF: +0.2% 📈 Vanguard FTSE 250: +0.1%

Underperformers: 📉 iShares Nikkei 225 ETF: -4.9% 📉 WisdomTree Copper ETF: -3.4% 📉 iShares Core MSCI EM IMI ETC: -3.2%

Portfolio Changes: 📉 Sell 2.5% iShares Core MSCI EM IMI ETC (10% → 7.5%) 📈 Buy 2.5% BlackRock World Mining Trust PLC (5% → 7.5%) 📉 Sell 2.5% iShares Russell 2000 ETF (7.5% → 5%) 📉 Sell 2.5% iShares Nikkei 225 ETF (10% → 7.5%) 💷 Cash increases from 17.5% to 22.5%

Equities fall to 57.5%, with 25% now held in cash and short-dated gilts.

Big Questions This Week: - Is the US preparing to move on Kharg Island? - Are leveraged ETPs a mug's game? - Is copper's bull story already in the price? - Is the market climbing a wall of worry? - Is it time for the portfolio to get more defensive?

What You'll Learn: ✔️ How 3x leveraged ETPs work, and how they can go wrong ✔️ Why copper supply is struggling to keep up with demand ✔️ The difference between investing in a commodity and its miners ✔️ How the team think about cash and defensive positioning

Disclaimer: This podcast is provided for educational and informational purposes only. The content presented is not intended as personal investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any particular securities or investments. All discussions regarding the model portfolio are illustrative and for educational purposes. Your capital is at risk. The value of shares, ETFs and ETCs can fall as well as rise, which could mean getti