U.S. stocks, bonds, and dollar all plunge! Danish pension fund "empties U.S.", gold surges
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U.S. stocks, bonds, and dollar all plunge! Danish pension fund "empties U.S.", gold surges
When the United States itself begins threatening allies, tearing up rules, and weaponizing geopolitics, why should other countries still keep their wealth in dollar assets?
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Ma Mengniu, TechFlow
An icebound island within the Arctic Circle is shaking the very foundation of global financial markets.
On January 20, U.S. markets suffered a brutal "triple sell-off" in stocks, bonds, and the dollar. The Dow plunged 1.76%, the S&P 500 dropped 2.06%—its worst single-day decline since October last year—and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.39%. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes surged to 4.3%, while the dollar index broke below the 99 level.
European equities crashed in tandem, with stock indices in Britain, France, Germany, and Italy all falling over 1%. Even Bitcoin tumbled beneath $90,000.
Meanwhile, safe-haven gold surged past $4,800, hitting another record high.
One bizarre black swan after another—the trigger sounds surreal: Trump’s territorial ambitions over Greenland and escalating tensions between the U.S. and Europe.
Danish Pension Fund “Dumping U.S. Holdings”
Greenland, covering 2.16 million square kilometers with a population of just 56,000, is an autonomous territory of Denmark—an unlikely player on Wall Street’s radar.
But Trump has publicly declared that “Greenland is critical to U.S. national security,” repeatedly suggesting that “the United States must own Greenland.” After Denmark and other European nations firmly rejected the idea, Trump played his favorite card: threatening to impose tariffs on all European countries opposing U.S. acquisition of Greenland.
The EU responded swiftly and firmly—considering retaliatory tariffs on $93 billion worth of American goods and restricting U.S. firms’ access to EU markets.
The latest escalation? Europe is now targeting the Achilles’ heel of dollar dominance: U.S. Treasury debt.
AkademikerPension, a Danish pension fund managing $25 billion in assets (serving teachers and academics), announced it will sell all of its U.S. Treasury holdings—around $100 million—by the end of January.
Chief Investment Officer Anders Schelde gave a blunt rationale: “The overall creditworthiness of the United States is poor. In the long run, the U.S. government's fiscal situation is unsustainable.”
He specifically cited Trump’s threatening remarks about Greenland as a key driver behind the decision. Concerns over fiscal discipline and a weakening dollar further pushed the fund to reduce exposure to U.S. assets.
This isn’t isolated. Two other major Danish pension funds—PFA, managing about $120 billion, and Laerernes Pension, the teachers’ pension fund—have also significantly cut their U.S. bond holdings this month.
Don’t underestimate these numbers. While Denmark’s total pension assets pale next to America’s giants, they represent a profound loss of confidence among European long-term capital in U.S. creditworthiness.
The market reacted instantly and violently: the euro surged to 1.1768 against the dollar, the Swedish krona and Danish krone rose 1% versus the dollar, and U.S. Treasuries were thrown into chaos. Yields on 30-year bonds breached 4.9%, and 10-year yields hit 4.3%, both reaching highs not seen since September last year.
Gold Hits New Record High
In this financial storm, only one asset class is celebrating: precious metals like gold and silver.
Spot gold briefly surpassed $4,800 per ounce, setting yet another all-time high for humanity. Silver climbed past $94, up more than 30% year-to-date. Global capital is casting a vote of no confidence in the dollar—with real money.
In stark contrast, Bitcoin plummeted below $89,000, dropping nearly 3% in a single day. ETH, Solana, and other major cryptocurrencies fared even worse, with losses commonly exceeding 5–8%.
Faced with genuine geopolitical crisis, institutional investors are turning to hard currency proven over millennia. The “digital gold” narrative of crypto has temporarily failed under systemic stress testing.
Who’s buying gold?
The National Bank of Poland has just approved a plan to purchase 150 tons of gold, increasing its total reserves from 550 to 700 tons—jumping into the top ten globally for gold holdings.
Central bank governor Adam Glapinski was candid: “We need more hard assets to counter uncertainty.”
Roy Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, issued an even sharper warning: Trump’s policies are sparking a “capital war,” with nations and investors alike reducing allocations to U.S. assets. He recommends holding gold as a key hedge, arguing that the current monetary system is breaking down and central banks’ logic for holding fiat and debt has fundamentally changed.
This statement deserves careful reflection. Dalio is no doomsayer—he runs a macro hedge fund managing hundreds of billions of dollars. Every word reflects real anxiety among large-scale capital.
Goldman Sachs has also unusually admitted that Trump’s tariff threats against Europe are “destructive” and will continue pressuring the dollar this week.
Chief FX strategist Kamakshya Trivedi stated directly: “We’ve now had two consecutive weekends of disruptive U.S. policy. This is calling into question the aura surrounding U.S. assets.”
What does “aura being questioned” mean? Simply put, the dollar’s credibility as the world’s reserve currency is unraveling.
For the past 70 years, dollar supremacy rested on three pillars: overwhelming military power, stewardship of the free trade system, and predictable rules.
Trump’s Greenland ambitions and tariff blackmail are dismantling the latter two right before our eyes.
When the United States itself begins threatening allies, tearing up agreements, and weaponizing geopolitics, why should any country still store its wealth in dollar-denominated assets?
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