The Great Flip: Why Hard Assets Are Replacing Wall Street’s Favorites
A forgotten asset class is crushing the S&P 500. Most investors still don’t see it coming.
In 2020, the story was simple. Tech stocks were unstoppable. Bonds were safe. Growth stocks could do no wrong. And anything tied to oil, gold, or copper was considered irrelevant.
That belief has unraveled.
Since the beginning of 2025, a portfolio built around hard assets like gold, energy, and industrial metals has outperformed the S&P 500 by more than 300 percent.
What most investors wrote off as “dead money” has turned into the highest-performing corner of the market.
This isn’t a temporary spike. It’s not a bounce. It’s a full-scale reversal.
And it’s only getting started.
The Inflation Era Is Real
For four decades, the market thrived under a simple truth. Inflation kept falling, interest rates stayed low, and paper assets outperformed.
That model broke in 2020.
Massive stimulus, supply chain fractures, and global political tension pushed inflation to levels we hadn’t seen since the early 1980s.
Three years later, inflation is still stuck above central bank targets. And the world is adjusting fast.
In 2022, central banks made a move that few in the mainstream covered. They bought over 1,100 tonnes of gold. That was the largest annual purchase since 1967.
It wasn’t a fluke. It was a warning.
Global financial institutions were quietly preparing for a world where currencies weaken and prices stay elevated.
They’re still preparing.
They’re calling it the ‘Freedom Dividend’
Tech titans like Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Mark Zuckerberg are calling for Universal Basic Income as AI threatens to eliminate millions of jobs.
But there’s a critical question few are asking: Who will pay for it?
Instead of relying on taxpayer funding, Mode Mobile is using attention as currency, already paying out $325M to over 50M users. Deloitte crowned them North America’s fastest-growing software company in 2023 after their revenue soared 32,481%.
And investors have a window to get in early before this becomes the template for post-AI income redistribution.
They’ve secured their Nasdaq ticker $MODE, and their $0.30/share pre-IPO offering may not be open much longer. The offering could close any moment now.
Mode Mobile recently received their ticker reservation with Nasdaq ($MODE), indicating an intent to IPO in the next 24 months. An intent to IPO is no guarantee that an actual IPO will occur.
The Deloitte rankings are based on submitted applications and public company database research, with winners selected based on their fiscal-year revenue growth percentage over a three-year period.
Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.modemobile.com.
The Dollar is Slipping, and Real Assets are Rising
The U.S. dollar is no longer the unstoppable safe haven it once was.
In the first half of 2025, the dollar index fell 11 percent. That is the steepest drop in more than half a century.
That kind of decline has real consequences.
Most hard assets are priced globally in dollars. So when the dollar weakens, their prices rise. That creates a feedback loop. Weaker dollar leads to higher import costs. Higher costs drive inflation. And inflation drives more money into inflation-resistant assets.
The markets are already reacting.
Gold Has Taken the Lead
Gold is not just holding steady. It is leading the market.
By late August 2025, gold was up more than 30 percent on the year. It broke above $3,500 per ounce in September, setting a new all-time high.
Bitcoin is up 15 to 16 percent. The S&P 500 is up about 10 percent. Gold is outperforming both.
Silver is moving as well, with silver miners beating major stock indices. Copper and uranium are breaking out on supply constraints and renewed demand. Oil prices are rising, backed by tighter inventories and geopolitical risks.
This is not a one-week surge. This is the beginning of a trend that could run for years.
A Shift in Global Market Leadership
Even within the equity market, the rotation is clear.
The high-growth names that dominated the last decade are no longer the only game in town. Leadership is shifting toward overlooked sectors.
Chinese equities, once thought “uninvestable,” are rallying. After years of underperformance, they’ve come back strong in 2025.
The Shanghai Composite is up roughly 25 percent from its April lows and recently reached its highest level in a decade. That comeback has been fueled by rising domestic capital flows, pro-market policy signals from Beijing, and momentum from resource-heavy sectors.
In a high-inflation, weak-dollar world, global diversification is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity. And China’s resource exposure gives it a unique edge.
What Worked Before Isn’t Working Now
The portfolio mix that succeeded for the last 40 years relied on a few major forces:
Low inflation
Falling rates
A strong dollar
Stable global trade
All four of those forces have now reversed.
Inflation is sticky. Rates are elevated. The dollar is weakening. And global trade is shifting in real time.
The asset classes that once dragged are now leading.
And the assets that dominated the 2010s are under pressure.
You missed $PLTR at $10. Don’t miss this.
Palantir rocketed to $350 billion by helping companies extract value from user data. The big data gold rush is here, but the company that stands to profit the most may not be Palantir…
Instead of just collecting data Mode Mobile is sharing the profits from it.
So while Palantir serves corporations, Mode Mobile helps everyday people make money from their smartphones.
So far, they’ve already helped their users save and earn more than $325M.
So while Palantir saw ~900% growth in 24 months, Mode Mobile’s 32,481% revenue growth over 3 years ranked them as North America’s #1 fastest growing software company.
They’ve secured the $MODE Nasdaq ticker and pre-IPO shares are available at just $0.30/share.
50M+ users already trust Mode. Walmart and Best Buy carry their phones.
This is just the beginning of the data gold rush for Mode Mobile.
The question is, will you be part of it?
Mode Mobile recently received their ticker reservation with Nasdaq ($MODE), indicating an intent to IPO in the next 24 months. An intent to IPO is no guarantee that an actual IPO will occur.
The Deloitte rankings are based on submitted applications and public company database research, with winners selected based on their fiscal-year revenue growth percentage over a three-year period.
Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.modemobile.com.
How to Position Yourself for This New Cycle
You don’t need to blow up your portfolio. But you do need to adjust.
Add real asset exposure. This includes gold, silver, and a diversified basket of commodities. A small allocation can provide real protection and real performance in this environment.
Reduce rate-sensitive holdings. Long-term bonds and speculative growth names are built for a zero-rate world. That world is gone. It’s time to trim accordingly.
Look outside the U.S. Emerging markets, especially in Asia, are tied more closely to commodity cycles. In a hard asset bull market, they often outperform.
Stay flexible. This is not a temporary shift. It’s the start of a new market cycle. Keep watching. Keep adjusting. The winners in this era won’t look like the winners of the last one.
This Is a Window Most Will Miss
You are not watching a temporary bounce in gold.
You are not looking at a short-term pop in oil.
You are watching the beginning of a market shift that could reshape wealth creation for the next decade.
Hard assets are no longer defensive positions. They are offensive plays in a new investing regime.
You can wait and watch. Or you can move early, before the rest of the market catches on.
The choice is yours.
Stay Sharp,
Gideon Ashwood