Palantir dumps $50 million gold investment less than two years after buying precious metal

In August 2021, information analytics bundle vendor Palantir bought implicit $50 million worthy of 100-ounce golden bars. Less than 2 years later, Palantir said goodbye to the precious metal.

"During the 3 months ended March 31, 2023, the Company sold each of its gold bars for full proceeds of $51.1 million," Palantir said successful its first-quarter fiscal filing Tuesday. The institution said the merchantability resulted successful "an immaterial realized gain" connected its connection of operations.

At the clip of Palantir's concern successful gold, the marketplace was successful a overmuch antithetic spot. Stocks were months distant from peaking, crypto was flying precocious and involvement rates were adjacent zero. Other tech companies were pumping currency into equity investments and adjacent bitcoin, but Palantir chose a much blimpish way successful parking immoderate of its other cash.

Palantir didn't accidental astatine the clip wherefore it bought gold, noting only that the bars were "located successful the northeastern United States" and that the institution could "take carnal possession of the golden bars stored astatine the installation astatine immoderate clip with tenable notice."

In its latest filing, the institution gave nary mentation arsenic to wherefore it made the sale, and a spokesperson didn't instantly respond to a petition for comment.

As a hedge against inflation, Palantir made a savvy bet.

Food and vigor prices, which were already connected the emergence by mid-2021, soared done mid-2022, with the year-over-year user terms scale peaking astatine 9.1% successful June. That fig has since travel steadily down, reaching 4.9% past month, the slowest gait since April 2021.

Gold prices are up much than 12% since aboriginal August 2021, portion the S&P 500 has dropped astir 6% implicit that aforesaid stretch.

But golden arsenic an alternate to currency loses its entreaty for galore investors successful an situation of rising involvement rates, due to the fact that there's abruptly wealth to beryllium made successful authorities bonds and high-yield savings products.

According to the quarterly filing, Palantir closed the play with $1.62 cardinal successful U.S. Treasury securities, accounting for much than fractional of its cash, equivalents and short-term investments. That's up from zero astatine the extremity of 2022, according to its yearly report.

"Cash equivalents chiefly dwell of wealth marketplace funds and U.S. treasury securities with archetypal maturities of 3 months oregon less, which are invested chiefly with U.S. fiscal institutions," Palantir's filing said.

The disclosure comes a week aft the Federal Reserved raised its benchmark complaint by different 0.25 percent point, its 10th summation successful a small implicit a year, to a people scope of 5%-5.25%, the highest since August 2007.

Palantir shares soared 23% connected Tuesday aft the institution reported net and revenue that topped analysts' estimates. The banal roseate different 4.1% Wednesday to $9.94.

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