The Financial Post reports in its Wednesday, May 24, edition that investors are starting to wonder how they can protect themselves against a United States government default. A Financial Times dispatch to the Post reports that while U.S. president Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have both indicated they want to cut a deal to raise America's debt ceiling -- and thus avoid a putative default -- significant sticking points remain. As a result, Wall Street analysts are now furtively weighing the protection options as they grapple with this new tail risk. Some, like those at JPMorgan Chase & Co., argue that "diversification is the best defence," and urge investors to "consider currencies and precious metals like the Japanese yen, the Swiss franc, and gold (and) high-quality international equities." FT says that sounds sensible. However, others are more focused: RBC Capital Markets in mid-May suggested that "gold looks like one of the few likely candidates that would bear the burden of resulting market flows" from default anxiety. A survey from Bloomberg last week echoed this. Gold is the top safety choice for professional and retail investors, by a long margin, with 52 and 46 per cent citing this.