Gold Climbs to $4,339 on Monday as Woo Warns AI Bubble, Not Iran, Threatens Dollar

According to an appearance on Kitco News, David Woo, former Bank of America global macro strategist, said on Monday that gold's rally to near $4,339 an ounce—up 2.8% for the day—reflects a deeper market misreading of geopolitical risk. While Wall Street celebrated a U.S.-Iran interim deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Woo called the agreement a historic strategic defeat and warned that the real threat to dollar dominance is not Middle East tensions but the artificial intelligence boom.

Woo argued that dollar strength is borrowed from global demand for U.S. AI technology, from Nvidia chips to OpenAI and Anthropic models. "If this AI bubble were to burst, the dollar's toast," he said. He sees the bubble compressed from above by U.S. national security restrictions on advanced models and from below by cheaper Chinese competitors, raising questions about AI company valuations. Central bank gold purchases totaled 244 tonnes in the first quarter of 2026 and exceeded 863 tonnes in 2025, signaling a shift away from dollar reserves. Should the AI trade collapse, Woo projected gold could reach $10,000 per ounce.