Another week, another record high for the gold price. Cue wild celebration among goldbugs — and frantic speculation from everyone else about the reason for the explosion in demand for the precious metal.

Geopolitical turmoil is one obvious explanation. Inflation concerns amid insane tariff dramas is another. However, there is a third, less noticed, issue bubbling away too: some hedge fund contemporaries of Scott Bessent, the hedgie-turned-US Treasury secretary, are speculating about a revaluation of America’s gold stocks.

Currently, these are valued at just $42 an ounce in national accounts. But knowledgeable observers reckon that if these were marked at current values — $2,800 an ounce — this could inject $800bn into the Treasury General Account, via a repurchase agreement. That might reduce the need to issue quite so many Treasury bonds this year.