Why Gold Is Money Again: Rethink Traditional Portfolio

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  September 04, 2026 at 16:00  |  50:18  |  Meb Faber Show
Speakers
Inigo Fraser Jenkins — Chief Investment Strategist, AllianceBernstein

Summary

Inigo Fraser Jenkins argues that the era of easy diversification and high real returns is ending. He defends US equity exceptionalism while declining to defend the dollar, and he makes a strategic case for gold as money and as a diversifier now that long-duration government bonds may no longer diversify equities. He also discusses healthcare, energy, commodities, copper, silver, Bitcoin, and soft commodities as portfolio responses to higher inflation and lower expected returns.

  • US equity exceptionalism is defended on AI, demographics, labor flexibility, and profit margins.
  • The US dollar is viewed as riskier, with non-dollar investors advised to hedge dollar exposure.
  • Gold is framed as money rather than a commodity and as a strategic equity diversifier.
  • Long-duration government bonds are expected to be less reliable diversifiers than in recent decades.
  • Healthcare is highlighted as a defensive sector with AI and demographic support.
  • Energy, broad commodities, and copper are favored for real returns and inflation protection.
  • Silver and Bitcoin merit small roles within a gold-dominated non-fiat allocation.
  • Soft commodities may see higher food prices from El Niño and fertilizer export issues.
Ideas
Inigo Fraser Jenkins Chief Investment Strategist, AllianceBernstein 1:24
Overweight US equities for relative exceptionalism.
Defends US equity exceptionalism and recommends a strategic overweight to US equities within a global equity portfolio. The US is better positioned to exploit AI and IT productivity, has labor flexibility to rationalize workforces, has better demographics than Europe or China, and has benefited from decades of rising profit share of GDP supported by falling effective corporate tax rates. Returns may be lower than history, but still positive in real terms and better than alternatives.
Inigo Fraser Jenkins Chief Investment Strategist, AllianceBernstein 4:28
Hedge or avoid US dollar exposure.
Declines to defend US dollar exceptionalism. Fiscal sustainability concerns, debt service spending crossing over defense spending, geopolitical weaponization of the dollar after the Russia-Ukraine invasion, and BICS de-dollarization attempts make the dollar riskier. He does not expect dollar depreciation against other currencies, but says non-dollar investors should hedge more dollar exposure, and the depreciation story is mainly against gold.
Inigo Fraser Jenkins Chief Investment Strategist, AllianceBernstein 21:49
Own gold as portfolio diversifier.
AllianceBernstein has been strategically overweight gold. Gold is no longer a commodity but money in this environment, benefits from desires to diversify away from the dollar, and has maintained roughly zero correlation with equities across inflation regimes. He uses a long-run real return assumption of about 1% plus support from BRICS and especially Chinese official buying, and sees gold as a key diversifier now that bonds no longer play that role.
Inigo Fraser Jenkins Chief Investment Strategist, AllianceBernstein 31:46
Small Bitcoin allocation behind gold.
Bitcoin should be a small part of the strategic non-fiat allocation, dominated by gold. He changed his view during COVID from seeing no role for Bitcoin to accepting a limited asset allocation role. More regulatory and custody clarity could bring in additional investors.
Inigo Fraser Jenkins Chief Investment Strategist, AllianceBernstein 32:36
Hold small silver allocation for diversification.
Silver deserves a small allocation as part of a non-fiat allocation dominated by gold. It is not a fundamental standalone bullish call, but silver is differentiated because investors play a much smaller role in that market than they do proportionally in gold, providing diversification within the non-fiat bucket.
Inigo Fraser Jenkins Chief Investment Strategist, AllianceBernstein 35:26
Healthcare offers defensive AI beneficiary exposure.
Healthcare is attractive strategically because it sits at the nexus of diversification, demographics, AI, and valuation. Demographics support demand and sticky pricing power, healthcare is a plausible AI beneficiary, and the sector's P/E relative to the market is low compared with its 20-30 year trading range. Policy uncertainty is a different risk from the AI trade, so healthcare offers defensive equity diversification.
Inigo Fraser Jenkins Chief Investment Strategist, AllianceBernstein 37:39
Use commodities and energy for inflation protection.
There is a strategic case for commodity exposure, including energy and base metals, as a source of real return and inflation protection. Exposure can be gained through direct commodities and through equities linked to those commodities. Energy equities stand out for income and free cash flow. This is separate from gold, which he now treats as money rather than a commodity.
Inigo Fraser Jenkins Chief Investment Strategist, AllianceBernstein 39:24
Copper benefits from AI and energy capex.
Copper is at all-time highs but not widely discussed. It has structural demand from AI physical capex and the energy transition. Base metals are also part of the portfolio response to expected higher inflation volatility from deglobalization and geopolitics, which should create more supply shocks over time.
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This Meb Faber Show video, published September 04, 2026, features Inigo Fraser Jenkins discussing SPY, USD, GLD, BTC, SILVER, XLV, XLE, DBC, COPPER. 8 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Inigo Fraser Jenkins  · Tickers: SPY, USD, GLD, BTC, SILVER, XLV, XLE, DBC, COPPER