Dec 27
China is a graver threat to the nation than Islamic extremism. See Thomas Rogan at the Washington Examiner.
Markets and Stocks
Over the next several weeks, I believe equities in the U.S. and in Europe will push higher. But exuberance is building. Excessive optimism often is followed by 5% draw downs, corrections.
Invest in great companies and try to trade as little as possible.
I continue to like CDE but I limit my risk with only a small position.
The AI stack, the largest banks with strong investment banking businesses, European defense stocks and selected cyclicals like CAT and ETN remain favored names.
I want to highlight four other names: AXP, BA, LLY and PEP.
Micron
Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are raising prices for their fifth-generation high-bandwidth memory 3E chips by nearly 20% for 2026 deliveries. Micron Technology will do the same. My price target is $400. The stock is trading around $290. It is up 300% this year and probably going a lot higher in 2026.
https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20251224PD225/hbm3e-samsung-2026-sk-hynix-hbm4.html See also CNBC.
Coeur Mining
Gold and Silver continue to power ahead. Gold is trading at $4,500 with silver at $75 an ounce.
Copper is also surging. I like BHP as a play on copper.
India
China and India are adversaries. This benefits the U.S.. Trump should cultivate relations with India.
India is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to build roads, tunnels and landing strips throughout the Himalayas, as it prepares for a possible future clash with its longtime nemesis China.
India’s bloody border clash with China in 2020, which killed soldiers on both sides, exposed an alarming vulnerability along the disputed 2,200-mile border, a vague demarcation line known as the Line of Actual Control.
While China has for decades built up a vast network of railways and roads along its border regions, India has done little to build the infrastructure its military would need to traverse its own mountainous border areas.