‘Credit Is Breaking’: Danielle DiMartino Booth on the Margin Call That Hit Gold

The AI boom is carrying the U.S. economy, but Danielle DiMartino Booth says it’s leaving most households behind. By her count, more than 100% of GDP growth is now coming from the AI trade, and without it the economy “looks kind of like an EKG that flat lines.” Families, she says, are spending what they have on rent, healthcare, gas and groceries.

The former Dallas Fed adviser, now CEO and chief strategist of QI Research, tells Kitco News anchor Jeremy Szafron at the New Orleans Investment Conference that gold’s Oct. 30 drop alongside tech stocks “tells you margin call.” In a credit upset, she argues, precious metals are one of the few places to hide. She sees the cracks forming in credit first, from a private credit market she calls a “black box” to the 82% of hyperscaler debt she says sits off balance sheets, and she puts the bankruptcy cycle at recessionary levels.

She also questions who Fed Chair Kevin Warsh is making policy for, faulting him for citing jobless claims that capture only one in four unemployed Americans. In her view, the sources of inflation are shrinking, not spreading.

This interview was recorded on Oct. 30, 2026.