Pantoro Gold Drilling Results Strong. So Are Stock's Recent Gains — Market Talk

Copper and U.S. thermal coal are Jefferies' top picks among mined commodities for now. Still, the U.S. bank expects broad gains for metals and bulk commodities prices, forecasting "the rising tide to lift all boats." In a note, Jefferies analysts say the macro factors driving gold prices to record highs--such as expectations of a weakening U.S. dollar--are bullish for other commodities as well. The analysts say those macro tailwinds are strengthening. "Best idea is to be long," they say. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)

By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--Australia's Treasury Wine Estates pulled its annual earnings guidance and paused a US$130 million share buyback amid uncertain demand in China and a change to its California distributors.

In August, Treasury had guided for low to mid double-digit earnings growth for its premium Penfolds brand across the 12 months through June 2026. On Monday, it said that stock depletions in China, which help drive demand, had been weaker than expected in the September quarter.

As a result, it pulled its guidance for its current fiscal year and for fiscal 2027, when it had been looking for 15% earnings growth.

Treasury said it was looking reallocate some Penfolds supply to customers in other key markets, but was wary of the potential for unauthorized parties to then ship the prestigious product back into China.

"TWE remains committed to maintaining the long-term strength and equity of the Penfolds brand through pricing discipline across all markets," the company said.

Treasury said it was still unable to quantify the full impact of switching distributor in California, where it operates brands including Daou and Frank Family Vineyards.

It said it was still in talks with Republic National Distribution Company, which stopped operating in the state on Sept. 2, and was looking at how to treat the inventory still held by its former distributor.

Treasury said it had completed about 15% of the on-market buyback it announced in August. It is waiting on greater clarity on conditions before resuming the 200 million Australian dollar buyback, it added.

The company said it still had about A$1 billion in liquidity on hand, plus significant covenant headroom.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

As Indians, we love gold, trust property, and are slowly warming up to equities. But which of these has actually worked best for wealth creation for Indians in the last 10 years? The answer isn’t as straightforward as picking a winner, because each asset class shines (or slumps) depending on timing, risk appetite, and personal goals.

The case for gold

Gold has always been the emotional favourite for Indians. Over the past decade, it has provided stability in times of uncertainty, especially during events like the pandemic and global market volatility. On average, gold has delivered around 8-9% annual returns in the last 10 years. Not spectacular, but steady. The biggest advantage of gold is its ability to act as a hedge when markets wobble.

The case for equities

Equities, through direct stocks or mutual funds, have been the clear outperformer over long horizons. Despite market crashes and corrections, Indian equity indices have delivered average returns in the range of 12-15% annually over the past decade. Compounding and growth make equities a strong wealth-building option—provided you have patience and don’t panic-sell during downturns.

The case for property

Real estate, traditionally a favourite among Indian families, has had mixed performance. Property values saw a slowdown after the mid-2010s due to regulatory changes and subdued demand. In many urban areas, appreciation has been in the 6-9% annual range, which is lower than equities but higher than inflation. However, real estate offers utility—you can live in it, rent it out, or pass it on as an inheritance. Liquidity, though, remains a major drawback.

The bigger picture

If you had invested ₹10 lakh in 2014, your gold would likely be worth around ₹21 lakh today, equities could be worth nearly ₹40 lakh (depending on the fund or stock choice), while property might sit around ₹18-22 lakh depending on location. The numbers make it clear: equities win on pure returns, but each asset plays a role. Gold protects, equity grows, and property provides both utility and long-term stability.

The bottom line

Rather than betting everything on one asset class, the smarter play is diversification. A mix of gold, equity, and property ensures that when one is underperforming, the others can balance your portfolio.

FAQs

1. Should I sell my gold or property to invest more in equities?

Not necessarily. Gold and property have different roles in your financial plan. Equities build wealth faster, but gold provides safety and property offers stability. Balance is key.

2. Which asset is best for retirement planning?

Equities usually deliver the highest long-term growth, making them ideal for retirement portfolios. But having some gold and property in the mix adds security and stability.

3. Are past returns a guarantee for the future?No. Gold, equities, and property all move in cycles. What worked in the past may not repeat exactly, so your decision should depend on goals, time horizon, and risk tolerance.

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has once again made a case for gold as a reliable long-term store of value - a view he has held for more than two decades - while citing macro strategist Lyn Alden's deep-dive study on the historical performance of major asset classes.

"I have long been in the 'gold as insurance against currency debasement' camp, for over 25 years now," Vembu wrote in a post. "Over the long term, gold has held its purchasing power in terms of commodities like petroleum, and gold has held its own against broad stock market indexes. No, I am not interested in crypto."

I have long been in the "gold as insurance against currency debasement" camp, for over 25 years now. Over the long term, gold has held its purchasing power in terms of commodities like petroleum, and gold has held its own against broad stock market indexes. No, I am not… pic.twitter.com/dyfnCFa7T6

— Sridhar Vembu (@svembu) October 12, 2025

Vembu's comments come at a time when gold is witnessing a powerful rally. Prices crossed $4,000 an ounce this week, and then climbed even higher after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and announced fresh restrictions on U.S. software exports. The moves sent global markets tumbling, prompting investors to flock toward traditional safe-haven assets like gold and silver.

Citing Alden's analysis, Vembu reinforced his belief that gold remains one of the few assets that can consistently preserve purchasing power over the long term. In her extensive study, Alden shows that despite the dominance of the U.S. dollar and the rise of modern financial markets, most investments - including government bonds, equities, and real estate - have historically underperformed gold when adjusted for inflation and currency debasement.

According to Alden's research: U.S. Treasury bonds, even during the dollar's ascent as the world's reserve currency, failed to match gold's purchasing power over time.

While equities as an asset class appear to outperform, just 4% of all stocks account for nearly all excess market returns, meaning the vast majority barely beat short-term government bills.

Real estate, though widely regarded as a stable long-term investment, has lagged gold on an unlevered basis once property taxes, upkeep, and inflation are factored in.

As Alden concludes: "Literally all government bonds and most unlevered real estate have underperformed gold over the long run. Stocks only outperform because a tiny minority of exceptional companies carry the entire index."For Vembu, this reinforces a philosophy he has followed for years - treating gold not as a speculative asset, but as a hedge against the erosion of fiat currencies. In an era marked by economic volatility, rising tariffs, and policy uncertainty, his renewed emphasis on gold highlights its enduring role as financial insurance in a world of shifting monetary dynamics.

By Randall W. Forsyth

The current boom in artificial-intelligence stocks has provoked more than a bit of déjà vu for those who lived through the dot-com bubble that burst around the turn of the 21st century.

But what is especially striking is the contrast between the current economy and that of the 1990s — a contrast most evident in the divergent performance of gold, which soured back then and is soaring now. Both moves correspond to the wildly different fiscal situations facing the U.S. in these two eras.

The yellow metal surged past the $4,000-an-ounce mark on Wednesday, a more than 50% vault since the beginning of the year. Gold has been moving up in a fairly straight line since breaking decisively above the $2,000 mark for the first time in early 2024.

That is a dramatic contrast with the 1990s, when gold fell from over $400 an ounce at the beginning of the decade to a low near $250 by 1999. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks enjoyed a giddy ascent, with the S&P 500 index increasing fivefold to its peak of more than 1,500 by March 2000. Then, gold truly seemed a barbarous relic, as John Maynard Keynes famously dubbed it, even more than greenbacks stuffed in a mattress.

You wouldn't know it from the headlines of the past week about bullion's record, but it's just barely at a new high after inflation. In real terms, gold only recently topped its peak above $800 reached in the frenzied ascent of January 1980 (adjusted by the consumer price index, using the latest reading, for August).

So, by this criterion, the metal has only recently reassumed its status as a store of value. But from its 1990s nadir, gold has actually outpaced stocks in this century. Put differently, the S&P 500, measured against gold, is almost 70% lower than its peak 25 years ago, according to Morgan Stanley strategist Michael Wilson. To be sure that's from gold's deeply depressed levels and equities' dot-com bubble peak.

But it doesn't seem coincidental that gold's reversal of fortune in this century has followed global central banks' preference for the metal over U.S. Treasury securities for their reserves. Much has been made of the sanctions on Russia after its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, but Rosenberg Research points out that the process was under way long before.

A research report from the advisory firm this past week detailed the history of central-bank selling of gold, which peaked in the 1990s, and its accumulation in the past 20 years. The rekindled interest in gold reflected profound changes in both geopolitical and economic circumstances.

In the 1990s, gold fell as the U.S. budget moved from a steep deficit, peaking at 4.7% of gross domestic product in 1992, to a surplus beginning of 1998. The tax increases under President Bill Clinton and the spending cuts enacted later by the Republican Congress helped to turn the red ink to black. The fall of the Berlin Wall led to the peace dividend that cut military spending to 3% of GDP from 5% at the beginning of the decade.

"This was a time of real wage growth, high productivity, balanced budgets (i.e., smaller government), and a better affordability backdrop for everyday needs like housing, healthcare, education, food, and energy — largely the opposite of the past 15 to 20 years," Morgan Stanley's Wilson pointedly observes.

And after two major overseas wars, the 2008-09 financial crisis, subsequent sluggish growth, and a pandemic, the U.S. budget swung from surplus at the turn of the century to deficits previously seen only in wartime. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget last year apportioned 37% of the blame for the rise in debt relative to GDP since 2001 to major tax cuts, 33% to major spending, and 28% to recession responses. And even well into a recovery, the deficit was still $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2025 ended on Sept. 30, according to congressional budget data.

For gold, the turnaround occurred in 2010 as central banks became net buyers for the first time in decades, according to Rosenberg. Along with the U.S. fiscal deterioration, the firm noted that it's hardly a coincidence that gold has increased fourfold since 2008-09, when the Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke instituted quantitative easing. That is the polite term for the central bank's massive purchase of bonds, the modern method of printing money.

The effect was summed up this past week by Ken Griffin, the billionaire head of Citadel, who expressed concern that gold was being viewed as a safer asset than the dollar. "We're seeing substantial asset inflation away from the dollar, as people are looking for ways to effectively de-dollarize, or derisk their portfolios vis-à-vis U.S. sovereign risk," he said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Gold has surged past $4,000 an ounce without a recession or a crisis in private equity or credit, things that would spur the Fed to flood the financial system once again, Rosenberg says.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent bragged this past week that the fiscal 2025 budget deficit-to-GDP ratio had a 5[%] number instead of 6[%] last year, even though such a shortfall once was associated only with deep economic downturns or wars.

The message from gold is that if the U.S. is still spewing red ink so profusely when the economy has full employment and inflation still is running above the Fed's 2% target, what will happen when times get tough? And, especially, if the central bank becomes an appendage of the administration?

For the moment, there is a FOMO (fear of missing out) element to gold's rally. But the fundamentals that have driven it this far remain firmly in place.

Write to Randall W. Forsyth at randall.forsyth@barrons.com

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Edmonton, Alberta--(Newsfile Corp. - October 10, 2025) - Metalero Mining Corp. (OTC Pink: CRTTF) ("Metalero" or the "Company") has updated the terms of its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") for gross proceeds of up to $300,000 to fund the next phase of work on its flagship Benson Project, located in the prolific Quesnel Trough of central British Columbia.

The revised Offering will consist of up to 1,428,572 flow-through units (the "FT Units") at a price of $0.21 per Unit. Each Unit will consist of one (1) flow-through common share (a "FT Share") and one (1) common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one (1) additional non flow-through common share at a price of $0.26 for two (2) years from the date of issuance.

All FT Shares offered in connection with this Offering qualify as a "flow-through share" within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the "Tax Act"). For subscribers who are qualifying individuals under the Income Tax Act (British Columbia) (the "BC Tax Act"), these expenditures will also qualify as "BC flow-through mining expenditures", as defined in section 4.721(1) of the BC Tax Act.

The proceeds will be used to support the Fall 2025 exploration work at Benson including further sampling and ground geophysics.

The Offering is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The securities issued will have a hold period of four months and one day from the closing of the Offering.

Benson Project Background

Metalero has signed a binding Letter of Intent ("LOI") to acquire 100% of the Benson Project which is strategically located in the Quesnel Trough, one of Canada's most important mineral belts. The Quesnel Trough is a Triassic/Jurassic-age belt of volcano-sedimentary and intrusive rocks which hosts >360 alkalic copper-gold porphyry occurrences and deposits. At >1,500 km long, the Quesnel Trough runs through the middle of BC stretching from the US to the Yukon Territory. It hosts numerous major mines which produce copper and gold as well as variable amounts of silver and molybdenum while also hosting several types of gold deposits.

High profile and long-lived mines in the Quesnel Trough include Highland Valley, Mt Milligan, New Afton and Kemess which are complemented by recent exploration work including Woodjam, MPD, Kwanika, and the extensive staking by Australian mining giant, the Fortescue Group.

The Benson Project lies close to infrastructure and is traversed by Highway 26 and a vast network of logging roads allowing for ready access to all parts of the Property and capital-efficient exploration. The large land package covers 5 different target areas illuminated by recent Artificial-Intelligence ("AI") work by Geoscience BC (Mitchinson et al., Geoscience BC Report 2022-07). This AI study incorporated a wide variety of historical datasets including geophysics, geology, sampling information, and drilling data (where present) to identify high potential ("porphyry-like") anomalies with similarities to known porphyry deposits elsewhere in the belt. Even the limited historical exploration at Benson has identified numerous gold and copper surface geochemical anomalies while modest, historical drill programs have intersected skarn and epithermal gold and silver mineralization, which are both intrusive-related styles of mineralization and are commonly associated with porphyry systems.

About Metalero Mining Corp.

Metalero Mining Corp. is a Canadian-based junior exploration company focused on copper and gold projects in North America. Its 166 square kilometer, road-accessible Benson Project serves as Metalero's flagship and is host to five prospects containing gold and copper within porphyry-related mineralized systems.

Qualified Person The technical content of this news release pertaining to the Benson Project was reviewed and approved by Michael Dufresne, M.Sc, P.Geol., P.Geo., a non-independent qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Rob L'Heureux" Rob L'Heureux, Chief Executive Officer and President 

Email: robl@metalsgroup.com Telephone: +1.780.916.5482

Metalero is part of the Metals Group of Companies, managed by exploration professionals who stand for technical excellence, robust project selection and strong corporate governance, with a proven ability to identify and capitalize on investment opportunities and deliver shareholder returns.

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Forward-Looking Statements This news release may contain certain "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws including, without limitation, the timing, nature, scope and details regarding the Company's exploration plans and results. Such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company, its projects, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict" and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the company's current expectations regarding future events, performance and results and speak only as of the date of this release.

Forward-looking statements in this press release are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to, structure and terms of the Offering, the anticipated closing date of the Offering, the intended use of proceeds of the Offerings, and approval of the Offerings by the TSX-V, risks associated with the mining industry in general, the exploration and development of mineral properties, the Company's ability to obtain necessary financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All forward looking information contained in this press release is given as of the date hereof and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in the Company's most recent annual management's discussion and analysis which is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Metalero disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for dissemination in the United States.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/270078