"He’s exhausting". That’s more or less how the markets are feeling, with Donald Trump’s constant hot-and-cold announcements. Businesses would welcome a bit more calm, while markets react at lightning speed to every tweet.

• “He’s like a toddler on a sugar rush”

• Few numbers

• The Pearl Necklace Has Fallen Out of Fashion

• The Price of Love

• Gold: The last immortal

• B-R & H Finance

Market Review

“He’s like a toddler on a sugar rush”

It’s a phrase often heard from parents dealing with an over-energetic toddler. And, in a sense, it captures the current mood of the markets amid ongoing political volatility. Donald Trump’s contradictory announcements, policy U-turns, and unpredictable tweets are all clouding economic visibility. Companies are calling for more stability, but markets continue to react instantly to every tremor.

A new acronym has emerged: TACO – Trump Always Chickens Out, coined by Rob Armstrong from the Financial Times. Some find it amusing, others irritating… and it might just push Trump to dig in his heels out of sheer contrarianism.

Moody’s added a twist of its own by downgrading the United States from AAA to Aa1, thirteen years after S&P did the same. In the end, the impact was limited: the 10-year US Treasury yield currently stands at 4.42%, slightly lower than at the start of the year (4.58% on January 1st).

Internationally, the most notable move came from Japan, where 10-year bond yields jumped from 1.08% to 1.50% in just one month — a significant shift for a country long accustomed to zero interest rates.

Unusually, Ethereum posted the strongest performance among all tracked indices in May, rising +43.75%, although it remains down -22.98% year-to-date. Not so for Bitcoin, up +10.55% on the month and +11.61% YTD.

Well-oriented markets in May

The S&P500 rose +6.73% in May — its first monthly gain since January. It also marked the index’s best May performance since 1990, and the strongest monthly return since last November. In Europe, the ranking has shifted: the DAX now shows a +20.29% YTD, but has been overtaken by the IBEX35, up +21.37% since the start of the year.

In contrast, the Nikkei remains in the red with a -6.09% YTD performance, weighed down by a stronger yen and rising domestic interest rates.

The trigger for the late-May Nasdaq100 rally (+9.73%) was Nvidia’s earnings release, which once again beat expectations despite a notable slowdown in sales to China.

Chinese battery giant CATL surged +15.9% on its first day of trading in Hong Kong. It’s one of the key players in the global energy transition, and a company to watch closely.

Commodities: the retreat

Energy prices continue their downward trend. WTI has dropped -13.52% and Brent -14.12% since the start of the year, weighed down by OPEC+ increasing supply. These declines haven’t necessarily reached the pump — especially not in Switzerland — but they should help ease inflation, and possibly rates.

Our opinion

Summer is heating up. The 90-day moratorium granted by the White House is nearing its end, potentially reviving trade tensions. The VIX, just below 20, doesn’t seem to reflect the latent nervousness. Historically, summer months are not the calmest for markets.

Few numbers

• On May 22, 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz paid 10,000 Bitcoins for two pizzas; 15 years later, on Bitcoin Pizza Day, those Bitcoins are worth over 1.1 billion Usd — that’s a pizza at Usd 550Mio apiece...

• Denmark is gradually raising its retirement age to 70 by 2040 (up from 67 today). The law passed with little fuss (81 in favor, 21 against) but remains broadly unpopular. Since 2006, the legal age has been indexed to life expectancy; it's set to rise to 68 in 2030, then 69 in 2035...

• OpenAI is teaming up with Jony Ive and has acquired the start-up IO, founded in 2024, for 6.5 billion Usd. The goal: to create a revolutionary device — likely screenless — that gives access to the best AI models. When cutting-edge AI meets iPhone-era design…

Editorial

The Pearl Necklace Has Fallen Out of Fashion

In the 1st century BC, Julius Caesar gifted his mistress Servilia, mother of Brutus, a black pearl valued at six million sesterces — the equivalent of roughly 1.5 billion dollars today. An extravagant gesture. Not long after, Cleopatra entered Caesar’s life. She gave him a son, Caesarion, and established herself as a formidable political ally. After Caesar’s death, she aligned with Mark Antony, Rome’s new strongman. At a banquet, according to Pliny the Elder, she is said to have dissolved a giant pearl in vinegar and drunk it — to show that Egypt could swallow in a single sip what took Rome years to accumulate.

How a shell transformed Abu Dhabi

There was a time — not so long ago — when the Gulf Emirates had neither oil nor skyscrapers. What they did have were pearls. Not the cultured kind; no, the real deal. Rare, natural pearls. The kind found by bare-chested divers plunging twenty meters down, holding their breath in waters full of danger… and hope.
At the turn of the 20th century, pearl diving was the beating heart of Abu Dhabi’s economy. Traditional dhows returned from the sea loaded with oysters. Out of ten thousand, one might hold a pearl — often imperfect. Divers worked in brutal conditions. Up to 50 dives a day. A clip on the nose, a rope around the ankle, and a net for collecting shells. Life expectancy? As fragile as the nacre they hunted.

The man who killed the pearl industry

The revolution came from Japan, led by one man: Kokichi Mikimoto.
In 1893, after years of trial and error, Mikimoto succeeded in cultivating the first pearl. By inserting an irritant into an oyster and managing the process, months later he harvested a perfectly round, lustrous, sellable pearl. He had just invented the cultured pearl — nature, tamed.
But it took time to change the world. It wasn't until the 1920s that Japanese pearls began flooding markets — first London, then Paris and New York. Visually identical, but three to ten times cheaper. The fate of the Gulf’s pearl economy was sealed.
Within a decade, it collapsed. Abu Dhabi, drained of trade, bankers, and families, shrank into a village. In 1939, the last great pearl ship dropped anchor for good.

And it never came back

Today, 99% of pearls on the global market are cultured. They come from Japan, China, Tahiti, the Philippines. Natural pearls? They’re no longer harvested. The rare ones surface at auctions — Christie’s, Sotheby’s — sold like tiny miracles untouched by progress.
Once, a pearl spoke of elegance, power, status. In the end, it’s not the pearl that has changed, but what we choose to see in it.

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Investments

The Price of Love

After cultured pearls, here come lab-grown diamonds. Same logic, same quiet disruption. Technically, they’re real diamonds — same chemical structure, same brilliance, same hardness. To the naked eye, there's no way to tell one dug from the Earth apart from one born in a plasma reactor. Only a handful of ultra-specialized microscopes can tell the difference. Which means that, at a cocktail party, it’s not what’s on your finger that counts… it’s the story that comes with it.

His perspective

Do I give her a natural 1-carat diamond, H color, VS1 clarity — or a 6-carat D, VVS1 lab-grown for the same price? One has history, the other has sparkle. One whispers tradition, the other screams brilliance. But what does the choice say about me? But what am I really offering? A symbol? A statement?
Does choosing lab-grown make me practical… or cold? Ethical… or just cheap?
They say a diamond means “forever”. But if the stone didn’t come from the depths of the Earth… does it still mean what I want it to mean?

Her Perspective

It’s stunning. Six carats, flawless, brilliant — the kind of diamond that catches every eye in the room. But part of me wonders: would I have preferred a smaller one… if it had come from the Earth?
Not for the value. For the story. Because deep down, that’s what a diamond is supposed to be — not just a stone, but a promise. A signal.
Maybe romance isn’t about geology. Maybe the real question isn’t “Is it real?” — but “Is he?”

There’s another wrinkle: the difference is so hard to detect that even industry insiders whisper of lab-grown diamonds being sold as natural. That kind of thing kills trust — and value.

Then there’s the real market. Today, over 70% of diamonds are used not in jewelry, but in industry — for cutting, drilling, polishing. And there, the verdict’s in: lab-grown wins. Cheaper, simpler, more efficient. In the long run, mining could become obsolete. Like whale hunting. Or sending a fax.

Yet in jeweler shop windows, things are moving slowly. The myth of the natural diamond — built on marketing and promises of forever — still holds sway.

Our Opinion

At BR & H, we don’t see nostalgia as an investment strategy. Natural diamonds will likely retain their luxury appeal in signed or exceptional collector pieces. But for everything else, the pressure is real — ethical, technological, and economic. In the medium term, the price gap between mined and lab-grown diamonds may come to feel as absurd as today’s difference between natural and cultured pearls.

Invest in a diamond for its beauty or to mark a life milestone? Absolutely. But as a financial asset, let’s be honest: perceived rarity isn’t a lasting value. And if the industry keeps evolving as expected, it might be the certificate — not the carat — that carries the most weight.

Wealth

Gold: The last immortal

Natural pearls were overtaken by cultured ones; lab-grown diamonds may soon push mined stones off their pedestal. But gold… gold still holds. For centuries, humanity has tried everything to replicate it. Medieval alchemists devoted entire lives to the idea that with the right formula, the right flame, and the elusive Philosopher’s Stone, any metal could become gold. It never worked. We’ve recreated starlight and split the atom — but not the gleam of gold.

And yet, let’s face it — gold is deeply impractical. It pays no interest, generates no cash flow, and is only moderately fungible (try buying a car with a gold bar). It’s essentially useless… and yet it comforts.

Gold is that strange asset no one cares about when things are calm, but everyone rushes to when the ground starts shaking. It doesn’t depreciate like a currency, doesn’t need a central bank, and has no carbon footprint. It makes no promises. In times of crisis, it plays the role the dollar once did: a shelter.

The view from China

For years, China was one of the largest holders of U.S. Treasuries, peaking above 1'300 billion Usd. But times change. Recently, Beijing has been quietly trimming its position. By Q1 2025, it was down to about 759 billion Usd. A clear move toward diversification. At the same time, China has been ramping up its gold reserves: now at 2'292.31 tonnes, representing 6.5% of its official holdings. It seems the yellow metal is very much in favor in Beijing.

Our Opinion

Gold has a role in a well-structured portfolio — as insurance, as diversification, as a quiet reserve. But it’s not a growth engine. You can’t build a strategy around something you hide under the mattress. And if you're tempted to chase the ounce, remember the old saying: during a gold rush, it’s the shovel sellers who get rich — not the nugget hunters.

As for us, we’ve stayed away from sovereign bonds for some time now: real yields remain poor and the risk is asymmetrical. And while the yuan is gaining ground in global trade, Beijing has no interest in a strong currency. So for now, we don't see the Chinese renminbi as a compelling strategic investment either.

B-R & H Finance

Founded in 2004, B-R & H Finance SA is a Swiss entity specialized in wealth management. We offer a full range of personalized and independent investment services and advisory solutions. Regulated by SO-Fit and authorized by FINMA, we are also members of the ASG (Swiss Association of Independent Asset Managers) and work with leading custodian banks.

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