The human cost of war… Millions of Ukrainians are fleeing their country as death counts rise, and some are getting support from Western employers. In recent years, Ukraine has become a thriving tech hub: Microsoft, Cisco, and Google have teams there, as do an estimated 20% of Fortune 500 companies. As the crisis has escalated, tech companies have tried to help their workers: Wix chartered planes to evacuate the third of its workforce that’s in Ukraine. In a tragic case, a Silicon Valley tech worker, her children, and their friend were killed as they tried to flee the conflict.
Going for (literal) gold… Gold prices hit $2K/ounce last week, approaching 2020’s all-time high. As prices soar, investors are shifting $$ from riskier assets like stocks to “safe haven” assets like gold, bonds, and cash. That’s been bullish for the two largest gold miners, Barrick Gold and Newmont: their shares are up around 30% this year while the market’s down 10%. Smaller Orla Mining’s stock is up 21% this year.