Donald Trump’s brand of populism has forced investors to identify new dynamics at play within their portfolios and to rethink how they gauge risk and opportunity in the global economy. For many, it’s been an exercise in balancing uncertainty with the unexpected, with geopolitical and policy volatility quick to surface at the beginning of the year.

From immigration to trade, it’s true there are a number of unknowns that are likely to persist with this regime change, bringing into focus a new normal for our financial landscape for the short-term, if not longer. But investors can gain some clarity by shifting attention from the uncertainty and noise to basing investment decisions on fundamentals among certain areas where we see clear trends amidst multiple unknowns.

We know, for instance, that monetary stimulus from central bank quantitative easing (QE) programs and the collapse of commodity prices sparked sustained disinflation in the U.S. and deflationary pressures globally. The catalyst from QE programs began to wane after hitting their peak, and the driver for economic stimulus has begun to shift from monetary to fiscal policy. With the Trump administration came a renewed focus on stimulus through increased fiscal spending on public infrastructure, deregulation, and tax cuts, policies often integral to populist movements.

Inflationary pressures will likely continue rising driven by broad commodity prices, which ended higher last year for the first time since 2010. The shift toward public infrastructure spending under Trump may also spur higher inflation amid a tightening labor market. At the same time, many of the policies tied to populism are inherently inflationary, boding well for investments that tend to move in line with inflation or act as hedges against inflation, such as broad commodities and precious metals.

Changing U.S. trade and immigration policies under the Trump administration has stirred uncertainty across global financial and currency markets. We are also witnessing a global geopolitical shift toward populist sentiment that generates market volatility by embracing protectionism.

With an outlook of heightened market volatility, rising inflationary pressures and growing policy uncertainty, precious metals and broad commodities may continue to see investment demand rise. Additionally, in an environment of lower expected returns and higher expected volatility across all asset classes, investors will need to look beyond the traditional means to achieve their investment objectives.

Precious metals, which tend to exhibit a positive correlation with market and policy uncertainty, have so far benefited by increased investor demand in January. Against the backdrop of policy unpredictability, we see the risk management benefits of precious metals helping to hedge against tail risk within portfolios, and also dampen the volatility that arises when geopolitics bleeds into financial markets and impacts stocks, rates, and even currencies.

Broader commodities, particularly energy and agriculture, have a much higher sensitivity to inflation and can also serve as effective inflation hedges. Historically, broad commodities have exhibited a low correlation to equities, both U.S. and global, as well as to fixed income. Amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty and stretched valuations in traditional assets, commodities may serve as a key alternative investment and source of diversification. Renewed investment in infrastructure could also drive commodity demand as more public projects mean more demand for copper, steel, cement, aluminum, and petroleum.

We know investors must confront unknowns on multiple fronts, waiting for key developments such as potentially disruptive changes to trade agreements or immigration policies, or a funding proposal for any infrastructure plan. But we also know that policy and geopolitics are now the drivers of volatility, and that volatility is expected to persist with this populist movement. And with that, we can approach our portfolios with the potential diversification and risk management benefits precious metals and commodities bring.

Maxwell Gold is the director of investment strategy for ETF Securities, a specialist commodity exchange-traded product (ETP) provider.