Rush for gold and US oil shares after Trump's Venezuela strike

Demand for "safe haven" metals - gold, silver and copper - and US oil shares have soared as financial markets react to Donald Trump's intervention in Venezuela, helping the FTSE 100 to a milestone in the process.

Shares in energy majors including Chevron and Exxon Mobil were sharply higher in New York in the wake of the operation to capture Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

President Trump has said American oil companies will "fix" oil infrastructure in the South American nation - home to the world's largest oil reserves.

Meanwhile, precious metal miners and defence stocks helped propel the FTSE 100 to a new record closing high - above 10,000 points for the first time.

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The initial oil market reaction was fairly muted early on Monday.

That was likely a consequence of long-held concerns over a glut of global oil.

Gold has had a 2.4% boost, silver prices rose about 5% to more than $76 an ounce, and copper gained roughly 3%.

Gold is now hovering around an all-time high, costing $4,435 an ounce.

"Investors often reach for gold when the news headlines are bleak or worrying as the metal has a reputation for acting as a store of value during uncertain times," said Russ Mould, investment director at investment platform AJ Bell.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, the senior Analyst at Swiss banking group Swissquote, said it was unsurprising that the metals were "enjoying a positive ride".

Investors have, at multiple times in the past year, moved money into safe havens, with the metals recording all-time high prices throughout 2025 due to stock market wobbles caused by the US imposition of tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty.

The increased cost of metals is also good news for mining and weapons companies, which were among the biggest risers in the UK's flagship stock index, the FTSE 100 list of most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange.

The index ended the day 0.5% higher at 10,004 points.

Energy constituents BP and Shell saw tepid gains but, across the Atlantic, Chevron and Exxon Mobil shares were up about 6% and 4% respectively.

Minimal oil moves

After falling on Monday morning, a barrel of Brent crude, the benchmark oil price, rose to $61.22.

It's still slightly less expensive than the $61.35 level seen on Friday and above the $62 prices of late-December.

Less oil has been leaving Venezuela since the US build up to its interventions. And only 1% of the global supply had been coming from the country beforehand.

Why?

Even with Trump pledging to "run" Venezuela and sell oil "in much larger doses", potentially to "many more" countries than before, it is unlikely to lead to a significant boost to global supply in the short to medium term.

Exports from the country had collapsed in December after the US imposed an "oil quarantine" having seized Venezuelan oil tankers.

Given this fall off, and the continuing exports "quarantine", which US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had imposed to "exert tremendous leverage" over what happens in Venezuela, no glut of oil is expected to enter the global market.

The US administration has highlighted the need for investment in the country's ageing oil infrastructure to boost output.