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| Money Metals News Alert | June 2, 2025 – Trade tensions between the U.S. and China are rising again today, as China accuses the U.S. of violating a trade truce and threatens to hit back.
U.S. stock indexes and the dollar are starting the week on a bad foot, while gold and silver are rallying again.
The war between Russia and Ukraine escalated over the weekend after Ukraine's daring drone attack deep inside of Russia.
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 | Gold : Silver Ratio (as of Friday's closing prices) – 100 to 1 | | |
| Crooks Steal Millions in Gold and Silver in Brazen Jewelry Store Burglaries | | | |
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Acquiring and holding hard assets is one thing. Keeping them safe is quite another. A Southern California business owner – and his customers – just learned this the hard way.
In recent days, thieves cleaned out a Simi Valley jewelry store, making off with millions of dollars in uninsured precious metals, jewelry, and cash in a brazen burglary.
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5 Star Jewelry and Watch Repair is in a strip mall. The thieves broke into an adjacent candy/coffee shop through the roof, spray-painted security cameras in the store, and then spent several hours cutting through the concrete wall to access the jewelry store.
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Directly on the other side of the wall was the backside of a 5,000-pound safe – apparently unprotected by vibration or other sensors. The thieves cut through the steel wall in the back of the safe and cleaned it out.
Jonathon Youssef owns the store with his 71-year-old father, Jacoub. He compared the break-in to a movie like Oceans Eleven or The Italian Job, and told the LA Times that he thinks it was an experienced crew. | "They were no slouches, and this wasn't their first rodeo. They knew where the cameras were, how to evade detection and what equipment to use to get into the safe." | Youssef said the burglars made off with between $2 and $2.5 million in gold and silver bullion, jewelry, watches, and cash. The store was insured, but remarkably the policy did not cover the contents of the safe! Youssef claimed to the Times they couldn't afford the insurance premiums.
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The store offers repair services, and some of the jewelry in the safe belonged to customers.
"Those are the irreplaceable items that are difficult to accept," Youssef said. "I couldn't care less about our inventory."
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Fighting back tears, Youssef told the Times he and his father are both devastated by the loss. | "It was a lifetime's worth of work — of struggle — gone, just gone. Everything we owned and, worse, family heirlooms of our customers are gone. It's unthinkable." | Just a few days later, there was a similar break-in in Glendale. Thieves entered a jewelry store through the roof and cleaned out the store. The owner told ABC News 7 that he thought he had a "pretty sophisticated security system." | "I'm not sure how they knew where it is. If they have motions or like sensors where they know where this stuff is. I have no idea." | Money Metals Depository CEO Stefan Gleason said local businesses such as these frequently underestimate the effectiveness of their security precautions. | "They don't have the controls, the security, or the insurance." | | | |
Money Metals Depository operates a massive, state-of-the-art vaulting facility in Eagle, Idaho that's known for its high security, auditing, internal controls, and record of zero losses ever.
Gleason noted that although these Southern California burglars were clearly professionals, they would not have been successful if the business owners had taken better precautions.
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For example, Gleason pointed out that cutting through walls and breaching a safe from behind isn't an uncommon tactic by thieves seeking to avoid alarm systems. If they can avoid triggering alarms, burglars can gain hours to work undetected. | "An experienced, high-value security consultant would have immediately identified this vulnerability and insisted that the deficiency be addressed. At minimum, a safe should not be installed against an exterior wall – vibration sensors, motion detectors, and/or laser curtains should protect all sides of it." | Furthermore, Gleason said safes are not sufficient to hold extremely high values, as they only deter professionals with proper tools for a few minutes. Either way, installing proper, redundant electronic warning systems can improve any situation considerably. And insurance is a necessary expense.
This tragic story underscores the importance of vetting businesses (and their insurance coverages) before entrusting them with your valuables. And since home security can more easily be defeated by professional thieves, it's prudent for owners of large values of precious metals to use a professional depository. | | |
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This week's Market Update was authored by Money Metals
Contributing Writer Mike Maharrey. | | |
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| This copyrighted material may not be republished without express permission. Offer only available through email promotion. Offer does not apply to previous orders and may not be combined with any other offer or program. Special shipping rates or other restrictions may apply to international orders. The information presented here is for general educational purposes only. Money Metals Exchange and its staff do not act as personal investment advisors. Nor do we advocate the purchase or sale of any regulated security listed on any exchange for any specific individual. While our track record is excellent, investment markets have inherent risks and there can be no assurance of future profits. You are responsible for your investment decisions, and they should be made in consultation with your own advisors. By purchasing from Money Metals, you understand our company is not responsible for any losses caused by your investment decisions, nor do we have any claim to any market gains you may enjoy. Money Metals Exchange is not a regulated trading "exchange" as defined by the CFTC and the SEC. | | |
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