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Transcript UNC 010524

UNC Jan 5 Transcript

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It&rsquo;s the most dangerous time for investors since the 1930s&hellip; and new threats to your wealth appear every week.
That&rsquo;s why we created Rickards Uncensored &mdash; a weekly Zoom broadcast that takes you deeper into Jim Rickards&rsquo; research and analysis than is possible in any other format.
Each Friday, Jim, his team and special invited guests will share their absolute latest thoughts on what&rsquo;s happening in the world &mdash; helping you navigate today&rsquo;s troubled markets.
You&rsquo;ll hear from seasoned traders&hellip; retirement specialists&hellip; commodities experts&hellip; government officials&hellip; financial heavyweights&hellip; even Jim himself.
Members of this elite team predicted the 2008 housing bubble&hellip; the gold price spikes in 2010 and 2019&hellip;&nbsp; American Airlines&rsquo; bankruptcy in 2011&hellip; Donald Trump&rsquo;s election victory in 2016&hellip; the pandemic-fueled market crash in 2020&hellip; the bond collapse in 2021&hellip; and more.
So you can count on them to tell you the unvarnished truth &mdash; regardless of how controversial it may be&hellip;
They&rsquo;ll also answer viewers&rsquo; questions, ensuring you get the answers you need.
You won&rsquo;t find a better source of information on what&rsquo;s next for the global economy&hellip; and what you should do right now. Get it all in a LIVE broadcast every Friday morning.&nbsp;

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Insider trading is illegal. But that doesn&rsquo;t stop connected insiders from using their first-hand knowledge to take advantage of the market.
It can feel like you&rsquo;re always just behind the curve, only acting on news after it breaks.
But Jim Rickards' Insider Intel offers another way.
It helps you take advantage of stocks that insiders are quietly piling into.
We&rsquo;re not talking about following the paper trail that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires when company executives and institutions make big trades.
Instead, Jim and his team scan the markets for subtle signs of &ldquo;off the books&rdquo; trading &mdash; using the proprietary I-3 Indicator.
Once it&rsquo;s zeroed in on suspicious activity, Jim&rsquo;s team examines the macroeconomic and fundamental clues that could explain the signals.
If everything checks out, they&rsquo;ll tell you the best way for you to cash in on the expected move.

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Updates

The U.S. government is doing something it rarely does outside of wartime or economic crisis.
It's taking ownership shares in private companies.
Not just once, but three times in the past four months.&nbsp;
First came MP Materials (MP), a rare earths mining company.&nbsp;
Six weeks later, the government took a stake in chipmaker Intel Corp. (INTC).&nbsp;
This week, the administration announced additional investments in rare earth mining.
This isn't a bailout or a crisis response.
It's a strategy.
As trade tensions with China drag on, the Trump administration has decided the best way to break America's dependence on Chinese manufacturing is to become a shareholder in U.S. companies.&nbsp;
The logic is straightforward: if these industries are critical to national security, the government needs to support them directly.
Of course, the government has always supported strategic industries through grants, loans, and contracts.
Defense spending has worked this way for decades.
But something has changed in recent years.&nbsp;
While the U.S. defense industry was once the envy of the world, countries like China have been catching up.&nbsp;
Part of the problem is a lack of competition at home.
China has hundreds of defense companies competing for government contracts.
The U.S. has roughly ten large defense contractors that win most of the work.
Since taking office, Trump has made it a priority to change this.&nbsp;
His administration has been awarding more contracts to smaller companies, particularly in areas where China is investing heavily.
One of those areas is drone technology.
<h3>The Future of Warfare</h3>
Enter AeroVironment (AVAV).
We first recommended AeroVironment in 2017 when the stock traded at under $30 per share.
This week, shares hit a record high above $400. That's a return of over 1,300% in less than eight years.
AeroVironment is one of the largest independent defense contractors in the United States.&nbsp;
The company specializes in developing unmanned aircraft systems and other robotic technologies.
These are exactly the types of systems the Pentagon wants more of.
During a recent investor presentation, AeroVironment's CEO revealed that over 1,200 of the company's Puma drones are currently operating in Ukraine.&nbsp;
These drones represent a significant portion of Ukraine's intelligence and surveillance capabilities.
The economic equation is simple.
Every time Ukraine loses one of these drones, it costs far less than the missile used to destroy it.&nbsp;
This is the future of warfare: cheap, expendable systems that can be produced in volume.
The Pentagon is paying attention.
This week, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded AeroVironment a $499 million contract.&nbsp;
The ten-year deal will fund the development of technology that protects warfighters from harmful electromagnetic radiation.
It's just one of many contracts the company already has with the Department of Defense.
More are likely on the way.
<h3>Once-in-a-lifetime Opportunity</h3>
For investors, the opportunity is obvious.
The new cold war with China is driving Washington to support domestic companies in strategic industries.&nbsp;
Defense technology, particularly in areas like drones and artificial intelligence, will receive enormous government backing.
This creates opportunities that come along once in a generation.
Companies like AeroVironment that are already leaders in critical technologies stand to benefit enormously.&nbsp;
The government needs them to succeed and is willing to provide the contracts and support necessary to make that happen.
The stock has already delivered extraordinary returns since 2017.
But with Pentagon spending on robotic systems expected to multiply over the next few years, the opportunity ahead could be even larger.&nbsp;
The Pentagon knows it needs these capabilities.
The administration knows it needs to support these companies.
And the funding is starting to flow.
For investors who position themselves correctly today, this shift in how America supports strategic industries could create generational wealth.
Our 1,300% gain with AVAV shows the power of finding quality companies in the right industries and holding them for the long term.
The new cold war is here.
And this time it's going to make people very, very, rich.

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With the simple mantra of &ldquo;Choose Yourself,&rdquo; James has built a massive following &mdash; helping people find new and unusual opportunities to generate inward success.
Now he wants you to achieve the next step: True financial freedom and independence.
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AVAV: The Pentagon’s Next Billion-Dollar Darling

Miscellaneous

&ldquo;Would you like to visit the Taiwanese opera?&rdquo; my local &ldquo;sherpa&rdquo; asked, mapping out stops on my six-day itinerary.
I declined. Not this time.
As much as I&rsquo;d like to sit in the velvet seats of a Taipei opera house, this trip has nothing to do with sightseeing.
Friday, I boarded a plane with my brother Mason &mdash; roughly 20 hours in the air from South Florida, plus the long crawl through airports and layovers &mdash; to land in a place that may decide the fate of the 21st century .
Because we may be on the eve of World War III&hellip; And that&rsquo;s not me being hyperbolic.
The threat of a Chinese invasion is real, and if it happens, it won&rsquo;t just redraw maps in Asia. It will shatter the global order &mdash; and the global economy &mdash; overnight.
I can&rsquo;t reveal all the names on my itinerary yet, but I&rsquo;ll be sitting down with figures at the highest levels of Taiwan&rsquo;s government and defense.
I&rsquo;ll also be walking the factory floors of semiconductor fabs &mdash; the crown jewels of global technology &mdash; where chips are born that power modernity. Mason will share more about that in a moment.
But our mission has one purpose: to bring back the best intelligence, the best ideas and the most actionable insights. Because if Beijing makes its move, the world as we know it changes forever.
<h3>A Brief History of a Dangerous Triangle</h3>
The roots of this standoff between China and Taiwan go back more than 70 years.
When Mao&rsquo;s communists seized mainland China in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek&rsquo;s Nationalists fled across the strait and set up a rival government &mdash; the Republic of China &mdash; in Taiwan.
Beijing has insisted ever since that Taiwan is a renegade province.
Washington, meanwhile, has walked a tightrope: officially recognizing &ldquo;One China,&rdquo; while sustaining an unofficial, but very real, partnership with Taiwan.
For decades, the U.S. relied on strategic ambiguity &mdash; not saying whether we&rsquo;d defend Taiwan, but signaling enough to keep Beijing cautious.
That shadow game is nearing its end. Xi Jinping has ordered the People&rsquo;s Liberation Army (PLA) to be ready to seize Taiwan by 2027.
Not necessarily a declaration of invasion, but a chilling readiness deadline that the Pentagon is taking very seriously.
<h3>The Loop That Never Closed</h3>
This isn&rsquo;t Taiwan&rsquo;s first brush with catastrophe. Four times in the past 75 years, the island has teetered on the edge of war&hellip;
<ul>
<li>The first crisis came in the early 1950s, when Mao shelled Taiwan&rsquo;s offshore islands. Eisenhower responded by openly weighing nuclear options &mdash; deterrence through raw force</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The second was 1958, when the PLA escalated shelling again and the U.S. rushed arms and reinforcements</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The third was 1995&ndash;96, when China tested missiles in the Taiwan Strait to intimidate Taiwan&rsquo;s voters. Washington sent carriers steaming through &mdash; a message Beijing couldn&rsquo;t miss</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>The fourth crisis started in 2022, when then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi landed in Taipei on a congressional visit. China&rsquo;s fury was volcanic! The PLA encircled Taiwan with live-fire drills and ballistic missile launches, rehearsing a blockade. It looked like the overture to war.</li>
</ul>
That loop has never closed, to be clear. It&rsquo;s still open, and still dangerous.
Keep in mind, the Chinese Communist Party thinks in years, not election cycles. Could a Taiwan invasion be part of Xi&rsquo;s five-year plan, starting with Pelosi&rsquo;s visit in 2022?
Xi&rsquo;s already told his military to be ready by 2027. Plus, he&rsquo;s purged political rivals, stockpiled grain and oil and re-engineered China&rsquo;s economy for wartime resilience.
Xi doesn&rsquo;t just want Taiwan back &mdash; he wants the world to see America powerless to stop him.
<h3>Taiwan&rsquo;s Own Plan: The Hedgehog</h3>
Taiwan knows it can&rsquo;t match China ship for ship, plane for plane or soldier for soldier. So Taiwan is preparing differently.
The strategy is called the &ldquo;hedgehog.&rdquo; Make Chinese provocation painful in the extreme.
Instead of billion-dollar prestige weapons, Taiwan is buying tens of thousands of drones, loitering munitions and coastal defense missiles.
Think Ukraine&rsquo;s success against Russia&rsquo;s navy and armor.
Taiwan wants to replicate that on a larger, deadlier scale: swarms of cheap drones, robotic sea craft designed to ram warships and software to knit them into one fighting network.
The goal is straightforward: Turn any Chinese invasion into a bloodbath.
<h3>The Human Element</h3>
For all the talk of weaponry, don&rsquo;t forget the Taiwanese people. Two-thirds of its citizens now identify solely as Taiwanese &mdash; not Chinese.
More than 80% flatly reject Beijing&rsquo;s &ldquo;one country, two systems&rdquo; framework. And the younger generation especially wants nothing to do with Communist rule.
That means this wouldn&rsquo;t just be a military conquest. It would be a political occupation of 23 million citizens who want no part of it.
Taiwan&rsquo;s government regularly stages air raid drills and civil defense exercises; students in schools practice evacuations, and families keep &ldquo;go bags&rdquo; packed.
For everyday life on the island, the shadow of conflict is never far away.
If Beijing moves, it won&rsquo;t just face Taiwan&rsquo;s military. It will face Taiwan&rsquo;s spirit of independence &mdash; and a population primed to resist.
<h3>The Costs of War</h3>
Bloomberg Economics puts the global cost of an invasion at $10 trillion &mdash; roughly 10% of global GDP. That would make it the largest economic shock of the modern era.
They estimate U.S. GDP alone could shrink nearly 7% in the first year of such a conflict.
Markets would collapse overnight. Supply chains would snap. Inflation would spike.
But this isn&rsquo;t just about economics. If Beijing succeeds, it signals the end of American dominance in the Pacific.
Allies like Japan, the Philippines and Australia would be forced to recalibrate. And the tremors would spread well beyond Asia.
Europe, the Middle East, Africa &mdash; all would start hedging bets on a new global power.
Those are the real costs. And that&rsquo;s why this trip matters.
<h3>Boots on the Ground</h3>
We&rsquo;re on a six-day fact-finding mission. Jet lag notwithstanding, I expect Mason and I will barely sleep.
We&rsquo;ll be sitting across from generals, government ministers and C-suite executives, asking the questions that cut through the noise.
We&rsquo;ll be walking factory floors where chips are born that power automobiles, encrypt bank accounts and anchor the radars, satellites and missiles that decide wars before they&rsquo;re fought.
Rationally, an invasion may not make sense. China would unravel 30-plus years of its own economic progress! But geopolitics isn&rsquo;t about common sense. It&rsquo;s about the choices of leaders &mdash; autocrats most of all.
Xi Jinping has tipped his hand. He&rsquo;s preparing.
That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m here in Taiwan: to separate the signal from noise. And Mason will bring his market expertise to what this means for portfolios, for investments, for America&rsquo;s future.
We urge you to look out for for October&rsquo;s issue of Money &amp; Power. It will be our most intensive breakdown yet, carrying with it every conversation, every revelation, every ounce of insight from this mission.
Because if World War III ignites in the Pacific, I want you prepared. And I want you to know the truth &mdash; straight from the front line.

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Here we&rsquo;re all about leveling the playing field and putting you at the same table where the real decisions (and the real money) are made.
While Wall Street insiders and political operatives quietly position themselves ahead of the news cycle, you&rsquo;ll be riding shotgun with someone who actually has a seat at the table. Buck isn&rsquo;t guessing&hellip; he&rsquo;s getting tipped off by the people shaping America&rsquo;s future behind closed doors. If you&rsquo;ve ever felt the game was rigged, this is your chance to play it with the cards stacked in your favor.

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Reporting Live From Taiwan

The quantum revolution is hitting with great speed.
Two weeks ago, IONQ (IONQ) closed at $41.&nbsp;
As I write, it's trading at $74.50 - an 81% move built on IONQ's execution of its quantum computing roadmap.
IONQ is transforming from a quantum computing company into America's quantum infrastructure platform.&nbsp;
And recent announcements are building toward quantum milestones that will change everything for our Altucher&rsquo;s Investment Network portfolio stock.
<h3>Breaking Through Walls...</h3>
This isn't about making current computers faster. Quantum computing solves problems that are fundamentally impossible with classical computation.
Classical computers scale linearly - doubling transistors roughly doubles capability. Quantum computers scale exponentially - each additional qubit doubles the computational space.
Here&rsquo;s why that matters: Certain mathematical problems become practically impossible as they scale on classical systems.
Factoring large numbers, simulating molecular interactions, optimizing complex logistics networks - these hit computational walls that quantum computers break through entirely.
Current internet security relies on the difficulty of factoring large numbers. Quantum computers make this trivial, forcing a complete rebuild of digital security infrastructure.&nbsp;
More importantly, nature operates on quantum principles.&nbsp;
Simulating molecular behavior or chemical reactions on classical computers requires massive approximations. Quantum computers simulate quantum systems directly, potentially revolutionizing drug discovery, materials science, and energy storage.
Just as the internet didn't just make things faster but enabled entirely new business models, quantum networking creates possibilities that don't exist today. These include distributed quantum computing, unhackable communications, and computational capabilities that scale beyond current physical limitations.
<h3>The Perfect Storm</h3>
IONQ&rsquo;s momentum started accelerating September 4th with a synthetic diamond advancement.&nbsp;
Working with Element Six, IONQ developed quantum-grade diamond films compatible with standard semiconductor manufacturing.&nbsp;
This achievement enables mass production using existing chipmaking infrastructure, potentially solving the manufacturing bottleneck that keeps quantum computing in labs rather than data centers.
September 10th brought the launch of IonQ Federal, led by former intelligence director Robert Cardillo. With over $100 million in government contracts already secured, this represents strategic positioning for national security applications.
Another catalyst for IONQ shares was the Analyst Day presentation at the NYSE, revealing a 100-qubit prototype system with computational space 36 quadrillion times larger than International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)&rsquo;s public systems.
September 17th delivered a triple announcement:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>The Oxford Ionics acquisition that will help IONQ improve its quantum computers was completed.</li>
<li>The Vector Atomic acquisition was announced for quantum sensing.</li>
<li>A Department of Energy partnership for quantum technologies in space was announced.</li>
</ul>
Then on Tuesday, IONQ successfully demonstrated frequency conversion of quantum signals to telecom wavelengths. They're the first company to achieve this milestone, enabling quantum computers to connect over existing fiber optic infrastructure.
<h3>Why This Matters</h3>
The quantum internet is moving from science fiction to technological reality and could be as transformative as the original internet for computing infrastructure.&nbsp;
IONQ says they'll soon connect two quantum computers over standard wavelengths, opening the floodgates for broadly networked quantum devices.
The Oxford Ionics merger brings world-record 99.99% gate fidelity and electronic qubit control that enables 2 million qubits for "low tens of millions" in parts cost. This electronic control approach offers huge cost advantages over competitors' laser-controlled systems requiring expensive cryogenic infrastructure.
Vector Atomic adds quantum sensing for navigation and timing, including classified work on the X-37B orbital platform. This isn't research - it's deployed national security technology.
<h3>The Infrastructure Play</h3>
Our original IONQ recommendation positioned it as the "picks and shovels" quantum provider for AI.&nbsp;
Quantum computing is expected to deliver a future generation of machine intelligence, and IONQ is also evolving into the networking layer for quantum computing.
When quantum computers can connect over existing fiber networks you're enabling distributed quantum computing across continents.&nbsp;
NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) acquired Mellanox for $7 billion to control the high-speed networking that connects GPUs in AI data centers. Without those interconnects, you can't scale AI workloads across thousands of processors.
IONQ is building the equivalent for quantum computing: photonic interconnects that preserve quantum coherence across distances, enabling quantum data centers where individual quantum computers work together as unified systems.
With "Q-Day" - when quantum computers break current encryption - potentially three years away, IONQ's quantum networking capabilities are fast becoming critical infrastructure.
<h3>The Numbers</h3>
Since our September 2023 recommendation, IONQ has delivered 257% returns.&nbsp;
The market cap has expanded from $5.75 billion to $22.33 billion as revenue guidance continues rising and bookings hit $95.6 million.
The huge 81% move in 15 days reflects recognition that IONQ controls quantum computing, networking, sensing, and space capabilities under one platform.&nbsp;
With 2030 targets of 2 million physical qubits enabling 80,000 logical qubits - versus IBM's 2033 goal of 2,000 logical qubits - IONQ's technical lead continues expanding.
<h3>What Happens Next</h3>
Today's quantum internet advancement triggers the next phase of adoption. When quantum computers can network over existing infrastructure, enterprise deployment accelerates dramatically.
The Vector Atomic acquisition brings $200 million in government contracts and proven sensing technology for submarine navigation and space applications.&nbsp;
Combined with IonQ Federal, this positions the company for expanded defense work as quantum technologies transition from research to deployment.
The quantum revolution is almost here. And IONQ just became the infrastructure company that makes it possible.

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IONQ’s Quantum Acceleration

President Trump is staying true to his "America First" agenda.
His mission to use our nation&rsquo;s vast, untapped mineral resources to simultaneously address the nation&rsquo;s gargantuan $37.5 trillion national debt will free us from our widespread reliance on Chinese rare earths and other resources.
Earlier this year, the president has already issued executive orders to access our nation's vast <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/immediate-measures-to-increase-american-mineral-production/">mineral deposits</a> in a push to establish America&rsquo;s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/a-plan-for-establishing-a-united-states-sovereign-wealth-fund/">first Sovereign Wealth Fund</a>. Such a fund would open up America's federal lands containing $150 trillion in untapped mineral wealth to the public.
Also, the president established the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/establishing-the-presidents-make-america-beautiful-again-commission/">Make America Beautiful Again Commission</a> to coordinate conservation, recreation, and economic growth strategies, with a strong emphasis on deregulation and private-sector involvement.
In addition, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (OBBB) was passed by Congress and signed into law on July 4. It&rsquo;s important because it advances the American Birthright opportunities even further for investors.
In this bill, environmental-related provisions will expedite reviews for investment projects and rescind funds under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (actually the Green New Scam in disguise) for green energy programs that were diverted to progressive activist groups.
In the area of natural resources, the OBBB will replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve that was depleted by Joe Biden for political purposes. The moratorium on new coal leasing permits will end. Oil and gas leasing in Alaska will be approved. Onshore oil and gas lease sales will be expanded, and timber harvesting will be increased.
<h2 class="subhead">The Latest Move</h2>
Now, the Trump administration is making another move in a new phase of the American Birthright mission.
On September 10, the U.S. Department of the Interior under Doug Burgum declared its intent to rescind the 2024 Public Lands Rule. This is a Biden-era rule which placed conservation on equal footing with uses such as natural gas drilling, mining, and timber.
The Interior Department argues the rescission will restore a "balanced multiple-use" framework and eliminate regulatory uncertainty for industries like energy and mining. There will be a 60-day public comment period which ends on November 10. After that, we&rsquo;ll closely monitor where this proposed rescission goes at that point.
Energy and mining groups believe this move will increase access to resources and support domestic energy needs. The Biden administration had treated conservation as &ldquo;no use,&rdquo; meaning the land was to be left idle rather than authorizing legitimate uses of the land like energy development.
Remember - the Biden years were a disaster for miners; Biden sank several expansive, high-profile domestic mine projects by either sidelining or stopping proposals. He ceded control of our supply chains. We've been in a trade war with China since Trump's first term, and yet we are no less dependent on foreign minerals despite everything that has happened since.
To protect the &ldquo;environment,&rdquo; Biden and his radical green agenda scam destroyed our middle class. They shipped our key industries overseas. Then bottled-up America&rsquo;s most valuable resources. America, a fully developed country famous for its "Gold Rushes", can hardly out-mine a much smaller, poorer nation.
Now, Trump wants to unlock the mineral wealth in federal lands, gut the bureaucracy, and unleash this mineral wealth. And companies are responding.
Thacker Pass, home to the largest known measured and indicated lithium resource in North America, announced a $250 million strategic investment earlier in the year. Historic Bunker Hill mine also saw $40 million in a fresh investment to restart and produce zinc and lead concentrates. This is just the beginning.
Mining efforts in lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper and other materials will be pursued avidly. Those sectors will outperform almost every other sector in the stock market. Industrial metals will be in increased demand related to the expansion of U.S. manufacturing. Precious metals will be in demand as a hedge against geopolitical uncertainty and as a non-digital store of wealth.
The bad news is that we find ourselves in a new global race for minerals &ndash; one that the prior administration left us hamstrung in.
The good news is that Trump's presidency has just begun, and we're already seeing signs of a new American "Gold Rush" when it comes to critical minerals.
There are years of positive policy movement from this administration to look forward to: an incredible window for investors to get rich off the coming metals and mining boom.
It&rsquo;s also good for the country. Because not only does opening up these lands to exploration benefit drilling and mining companies, but it also results in high-paying jobs, increased GDP, industrial capacity and output as well as reduces the debt by adding extra revenue to the federal government.
It&rsquo;s an exciting time for America as the government is finally using the asset side of its balance sheet to benefit America and provide citizens with their birthright advantages.
What does this mean for you as an investor? It means more investing in American companies that will benefit from Trump reducing regulations on development and moving to reshore industry. That is, own hard assets like energy and resources, plus of course, precious metals. But it also opens up profit opportunities in other sectors of the market as well.
Savvy investors can take advantage of these opportunities to create wealth in their own portfolios. It&rsquo;s a birthright of American citizens to prosper from natural resources on federal lands. This latest move by Interior will help with deregulation efforts to jump start mining and drilling projects. We&rsquo;ll keep you posted on further developments in the coming weeks.

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Soaring resource costs&hellip; crashing stock prices&hellip; chaos on Wall Street&hellip;
Today&rsquo;s markets may seem more unpredictable than ever.
But drawing on his experience with the Central Intelligence Agency, Jim Rickards has developed a system for pinpointing the best times to enter and exit a trade.
It reveals the exact cross-section where you have enough good information to be smart AND still have time to effectively act.&nbsp;
And while the U.S. government has been using this system to predict geopolitical events for decades, Jim is the first to apply it to the investment markets.
He calls it the &ldquo;Kissinger Cross&rdquo; strategy&hellip; and it&rsquo;s only available in The Situation Report with Jim Rickards.
Jim and his team use it to detect big moves in gold, energy, currencies and commodities before they happen. Then it&rsquo;s just a matter of pairing that knowledge with the right trades &mdash; for chances to quickly multiply your money.
So don&rsquo;t be a victim of Wall Street&rsquo;s sudden ups and downs.
With The Situation Report with Jim Rickards, you can harness the power of the &ldquo;Kissinger Cross&rdquo; strategy &mdash; for a chance at big profits from gold, energy, currencies and commodities.

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UPDATE: The Latest American Birthright Move

For those who have recently joined our community, the financial analysis you receive might seem overwhelming at first. Don&rsquo;t worry&hellip; we are here to help by breaking down complex issues in meaningful and simple ways.
That&rsquo;s why every week, I will answer select questions that you send into our mailbag.
Since I can&rsquo;t talk to you personally (although I love conversations with readers at our company events), these Ask Me Anything sessions will give you insight into our trading strategies and what&rsquo;s top of mind for me and my team each week.
Even though I can't give personalized investment advice, you can submit general questions, and we will publish a few selected ones on a weekly basis.
So, if you have any questions you would like me to answer, please send them along to <a href="mailto:askjim@paradigmpressgroup.com">askjim@paradigmpressgroup.com</a>. We will select a few in upcoming Ask Me Anything sessions.
The mailbag included questions on Trump&rsquo;s deregulating agenda, century bonds, and a major foreign policy blunder.
Here are a few:
Q: How will President Trump handle the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in allowing America to open its abundant resources to keep up with AI demand for energy resources? As deregulation is needed, do you believe he will disband the FERC? &ndash; Jeff W.
A: Trump will not disband the FERC. His preferred method in dealing with regulatory agencies is to capture them with his own appointees who are supportive of his deregulatory agenda. FERC will not stand in the way of opening U.S. natural resource development including oil, natural gas and uranium mining and processing. This is good news for investors who take advantage of American Birthright opportunities coming down the pipeline.
Q: Would issuing 100-year bonds be effective in reducing the U.S. national debt? &ndash; Tom R.
A: Issuing 100-year bonds by itself does not reduce the national debt. The Treasury would simply be substituting one maturity (100-years) for some shorter maturity (say, 10-years) without reducing the total debt. Still, 100-year debt might carry lower interest rates than other maturities because those instruments would be highly attractive to institutions with long-term liabilities such as insurance companies and endowments. A lower interest rate could save the government some interest expense, which could reduce the deficit slightly.
Q: Has Trump&rsquo;s latest tariffs on India shaken the India - U.S. economic alliance against China? If so, how will this impact global trade? &ndash; Brenda B.
A: Trump&rsquo;s tariffs on India are a huge blunder. The idea was to impose secondary sanctions on India because they buy oil from Russia and export refined products to the rest of the world. This effectively bypasses sanctions on Russian oil exports. The U.S. tariffs on India have not changed a thing. India has made it clear that they will continue to buy Russian oil. But the tariffs have soured a budding economic alliance between India and the U.S. The U.S. should ally with India and Russia in order to isolate China. Instead, the U.S. has alienated India and Russia and driven them closer to China. This will prove to be one of the greatest failures in the history of U.S. foreign policy. The impact on world trade will be slight but the damage to U.S.-India trade will be enormous.
That&rsquo;s it for this week. Thanks for all your questions sent in.
We&rsquo;ll have more featured questions answered from the mailbag next week. One may even be yours or a question that has been on your mind, so stay tuned.
All the best, Jim Rickards Editor,&nbsp;Jim Rickards' Strategic Intelligence
P.S. I wanted to make sure this message got to you right away...
Because this coming&nbsp;Tuesday, September 9th, I believe the biggest financial story of the year is going to break wide open...
That&rsquo;s when Apple CEO Tim Cook is expected to take the stage and make a major announcement that my friend and colleague James Altucher is predicting.
That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s imperative you move FAST, before 1 PM ET on Tuesday, September 9th. That&rsquo;s only a few days from now.
If you aren&rsquo;t in before Apple makes this announcement, you&rsquo;ll be too late.
<a href="https://pro.paradigm-press.info/m/2475828" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-stringify-link="https://pro.paradigm-press.info/m/2475828">Click here and James will show you the urgent details &ndash; including the simple steps on how you can take action</a><a href="https://pro.paradigm-press.info/m/2475670" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-sk="tooltip_parent" data-stringify-link="https://pro.paradigm-press.info/m/2475670">.</a>

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Jim Rickards&rsquo; Strategic Intelligence is designed to help you prepare and profit from the coming collapse of the dollar.
It&rsquo;s masterminded by Jim Rickards, New York Times bestselling author of the The Road to Ruin, Currency Wars, The Death of Money, The New Case for Gold and more.
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To safely guide your investments, Jim has developed a revolutionary way of looking at the financial system and stock markets. He calls it &ldquo;complexity theory,&rdquo; which has been used by government intelligence agencies but never applied to the financial world.
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A Green Light for American Birthright Opportunities

We are really starting to see the cracks show in the current market leadership right now&hellip; And investors are starting to recognize a noticeable change in what&rsquo;s working in the market.
After months of steady gains, stemming from the rebound move that kicked off in April, many of the stocks that powered higher during that rally are now running out of steam.
Traders who rode those names up are taking some of their profits off the table. And we&rsquo;re likely to see this trend continue as we settle into September, a seasonally volatile time for stocks.
However, while some might view this as weakness, there&rsquo;s another side to the story that shows we&rsquo;re seeing some healthy action right now.
It all has to do with rotation, something we have talked about a few times now. Specifically, two sectors I saw benefiting from this rotation were homebuilders and biotech names.&nbsp;
Today, I want to take a look at two more sectors I believe are poised to perform well as this rotation extends.
But first, let&rsquo;s look at how these rotations form.
The rally that began in April was powerful. But no rally goes in a straight line.
When stocks run too far, too fast, they get stretched on both technical and fundamental levels.
Prices move well ahead of earnings growth or realistic expectations. That&rsquo;s when disciplined traders step in and take money off the table.
The recent wave of profit-taking is a reflection of that discipline.
Names that more than doubled or surged 30 to 50% in just a few months are now cooling off.
It doesn&rsquo;t mean those companies are suddenly bad investments; it just means the market needs to reset itself. Some of these stocks have simply gotten too expensive. 
And overheated names can&rsquo;t carry the entire market forever.
So when traders sell expensive stocks, they often turn around and redeploy that capital into cheaper names.
This rotation is the lifeblood of a healthy market. It allows momentum to broaden out rather than stay concentrated in a handful of sectors or mega-cap companies.
Without rotation, markets risk becoming top-heavy.
That kind of imbalance eventually collapses under its own weight. But when capital starts to flow into other areas such as small caps, financials, industrials, cyclical names, or others, it signals a more sustainable rally.
So while we last talked about biotech and homebuilders being two areas I am seeing money rotate into, I wanted to look at two more pockets of opportunity that stand to benefit from lower interest rates.
With pressure mounting on the Fed to start cutting rates, we could quickly see these sectors pick up steam.
First up, let&rsquo;s look at small cap stocks&hellip;
Smaller companies tend to thrive when borrowing costs come down.
They&rsquo;re more sensitive to changes in financing conditions because they often rely heavily on debt to fund growth.
Lower rates mean easier access to credit, cheaper financing, and better margins.
Historically, small caps have outperformed during periods of monetary easing, and traders are already beginning to rotate into these names.
With extra pressure on the Fed, I wouldn&rsquo;t be surprised for some of these small caps to really blossom, at least in the short-term.
And one way to position yourself for gains on small caps is with the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (<a href="http://my.paradigmpressgroup.com/ticker/IWM">IWM</a>). 
ETFs act as a great way to gain exposure to a sector without having to do the leg-work of researching individual companies.
Then, some more stocks I see performing well in the coming months are the large cap financial companies.
When rates fall, corporations find it cheaper to issue bonds or refinance existing debt.
That translates directly into business for big banks, which earn substantial fees for underwriting and structuring those deals.
As companies rush to take advantage of lower borrowing costs, financial giants see a surge in activity across debt capital markets.
That makes them attractive plays during times of monetary easing.
So for active traders, it can pay to avoid clinging to overheated stocks.
If a position has delivered strong gains since April, it may be time to take profits and look for opportunities in sectors just beginning to benefit from the next phase of this cycle.
That doesn&rsquo;t mean abandoning quality companies altogether.
It means reading the writings on the walls.
This kind of discipline helps traders avoid giving back gains while positioning themselves for the next wave of leadership.

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Market Leaders Give Way For Rotation Trades

The Army doesn't waste time on its top priority science projects.&nbsp;
So when they advance Nano Nuclear Energy (NNE) to the finals of their elite xTechSearch 9 competition&mdash;the Army's premier technology competition for breakthrough defense applications&mdash;they're signaling something important: deployable nuclear reactors aren't science fiction anymore.&nbsp;
They're strategic necessities.
Moreover, while the S&amp;P 500 suffered through its longest losing streak since January, NNE was building the infrastructure that separates them from every competitor.
The timing couldn't be better as a bounceback opportunity if you missed out when we recommended NNE last December as a way to take advantage of an abundant energy source powering the next phase of the AI revolution.
Yes, last week's market weakness drove NNE shares back under our original $38 'buy up to' price.
But the real story isn&rsquo;t Nano's daily price action. It is their operational acceleration that really sets them apart.
Even better, additional validation of our portfolio recommendation came this same month when NNE was selected for inclusion in the Global X Uranium ETF.
That gives the stock automatic exposure to institutions seeking broad participation in nuclear component growth.&nbsp;
<h3>The Acceleration&nbsp;</h3>
Behind the stock volatility, NNE management revealed timeline acceleration that strengthens their competitive position.&nbsp;
The company is targeting a Nuclear Regulatory Commission construction permit submission by the end of 2025 or early 2026, potentially making them the first commercial microreactor company to reach this critical milestone in the United States.
That's not just a technical achievement. It's a first-mover advantage worth billions in a market where being second risks becoming irrelevant.
A Canadian expansion adds another dimension the market isn't pricing in.&nbsp;
While competitors focus solely on U.S. opportunities, NNE is resuming formal licensing activities with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and working with Canadian Nuclear Laboratory on a Chalk River site.&nbsp;
This positions NNE as a North American provider of advanced nuclear technologies.
The infrastructure buildout tells the execution story.&nbsp;
They've acquired a 23,537-square-foot facility in Oak Brook, Illinois, specifically to support development of their flagship KRONOS microreactor with up to 60 nuclear engineers working in collaboration with the University of Illinois.&nbsp;
This isn't PowerPoint planning&mdash;it's concrete preparation for commercial deployment.
The company&rsquo;s proprietary ALIP pump technology reached assembly milestones and is advancing through the SBIR Phase III process, opening commercial sales opportunities later this year or in 2026.&nbsp;
When asked about applications, CEO Walker detailed demand from both fission and fusion companies, plus discussions with space agencies about reducing component size for space applications.
<h3>Following the Smart Money</h3>
NNE closed the quarter with $210.2 million in cash against a projected annual burn rate of $40 million. That's more than five years of operational runway without raising another dollar.
The company confirmed it&rsquo;s preparing to raise money. The timing makes sense given growing institutional interest following their May private placement that included fundamental institutional investors and a leading long-only mutual fund.
Moreover, the company was included in the URA ETF earlier this month. This provides automatic exposure to institutions seeking broad participation in uranium and nuclear component growth. With $4 billion in net assets, URA represents institutional flow.
Meanwhile, management reported active commercial negotiations with several AI data center customers while evaluating early-stage opportunities for remote projects in the U.S., Canada, and internationally.&nbsp;
These aren't hypothetical future customers&mdash;they're real negotiations happening now.
<h3>The Transformation Continues</h3>
The Trump administration's four executive orders promoting nuclear power created unprecedented regulatory tailwinds.&nbsp;
Goldman Sachs projects U.S. power demand will rise 2.4% annually through 2030, with data centers comprising 8% of total demand versus 3% in 2022.
NNE sits at the convergence of these trends with its technology.&nbsp;
Their KRONOS reactor benefited from over $120 million in prior development investment before NNE acquired it for less than $10 million. It's supported by a well-known high-temperature gas-cooled reactor design with decades of operational precedent globally.
The recent appointment of former Energy Secretary Rick Perry as Executive Advisory Board Chairman and Intel's Global Chief Technologist Seth Berl to the board signals the caliber of talent recognizing NNE's potential.&nbsp;
These aren't token advisory positions&mdash;they're strategic appointments by people who understand where the nuclear industry is heading.
<h3>Fast Tracking to First&nbsp;</h3>
Sometimes the most important developments in the market happen when everyone's looking elsewhere.
While analysts worried about diversification strategy, NNE demonstrated exactly why vertical integration matters in nuclear energy. The fuel supply chain represents the biggest bottleneck for advanced reactor deployment.
The stock&rsquo;s recent volatility creates opportunity for investors who recognize the difference between quarterly noise and secular transformation.&nbsp;
Our 53% gains through July came from positioning early in a nuclear renaissance that's now accelerating beyond our original expectations.
The company that seemed impossible to recommend just two years ago is now advancing toward construction permits, expanding internationally, and negotiating with real customers.&nbsp;
That's exactly the kind of transformation that creates massive investment opportunities for those positioned before the market catches up.
Nuclear energy just went from pariah to powerhouse faster than anyone expected. The recent selloff looks like a gift for anyone who understands the execution story unfolding behind the headlines.

ALN-alert-08-27-25(Featured)

The Pentagon Just Validated Our Nuclear Bet

Mailbag

Stocks are moving higher so far today as Wall Street likes the prepared remarks given by Fed Chair Jay Powell at the annual Fed economic symposium in Jackson Hole.
He has left the door open for a rate cut in September and said, &ldquo;The economic outlook may warrant a change in Fed policy&rdquo;.
But be careful what you wish for. Rate cuts are associated with recession and even a depression, not a strong economy. It might be good news for markets, but bad news for the economy and consumers. We&rsquo;ll closely monitor any further comments by Powell today to keep you informed.
Welcome to another session of Ask Me Anything.
For those who have recently joined our community, the financial analysis you receive might seem overwhelming at first. Don&rsquo;t worry&hellip; we are here to help by breaking down complex issues in meaningful and simple ways.
That&rsquo;s why every week, I will answer select questions that you send into our mailbag.
Since I can&rsquo;t talk to you personally (although I love conversations with readers at our company events), these Ask Me Anything sessions will give you insight into our trading strategies and what&rsquo;s top of mind for me and my team each week.
Even though I can't give personalized investment advice, you can submit general questions, and we will publish a few selected ones on a weekly basis.
The selected questions for this week are interesting because they show how geopolitics, technology and government policies can impact different sectors of the stock market in different ways. Review them carefully below.
The mailbag included questions on GPT-5 and AI valuations, the defense sector, and the future for the Chinese economy.
Here are a few:
Q: What does the new GPT-5 model of OpenAI say about the future of artificial intelligence and its sustainability? &ndash; Ron M.
A: The roll-out of the new GPT-5 model from OpenAI was a fiasco, although some users at least got a laugh out of how bad it was. The disappointment with its performance was understandable. Among the disappointments were that the answers were too short, the writing lacked personality, and the program&rsquo;s insistence that there are three Bs in blueberry. It seems like Sam Altman is taking a step backwards in his quest for superintelligence. An even bigger problem in terms of the stock market valuations of AI champions is that markets are rewarding companies for spending hundreds of billions of dollars on AI data centers and development without regard to whether any profits are produced. Investors seem to take the future profits for granted. That may lead to a disappointment in earnings and the mother of all stock market corrections. If GPT-5 is any indication, that outcome may arrive sooner rather than later.
Q: Do geopolitical hotspots and continued threats of kinetic warfare make the defense sector an investment opportunity? &ndash; Kenneth R.
A: In short, U.S. military weapons systems are badly depleted, largely obsolete and not readily replaced even if it made sense to do so, which it does not in most cases. The solution is to start fresh with new advanced weapons designs, new technology and new factories. This rearmament process will take five-to-ten years to show initial results and twenty years to fully rebuild the U.S. military to the status of best in the world. In addition to well-established names like Lockheed Martin (LMT), RTX (RTX, formerly Raytheon), and Boeing (BA), investors should consider newer firms in the sector that have quickly established solid connections and key contracts. Since much of the technology needed is new or still in development, established firms do not have an edge and newer firms may even hold an advantage since they are not bound by legacy systems and processes. These firms include Kratos Defense and Securities Systems (KTOS) with a specialty in military electronics and robotics and Palantir Technologies (PLTR), which is a leader is massive data mining and artificial intelligence and a favorite of the U.S. intelligence community because of its ability in high-speed search and profiling. A defense and intelligence surge of the kind needed will take ten years to achieve scale and perhaps twenty-five years before the surge runs its course. It follows that the sooner investors make their moves, the greater the profits will be over time.
Q: What will Trump&rsquo;s high tariffs on China do to the Chinese economy and markets? &ndash; Sarah S.
A: If one considers the three pillars of the Chinese economy to be domestic consumption, investment and trade, then two of those pillars (consumption and investment) are already failing. Thanks to Trump&rsquo;s tariffs the third pillar (trade) may be about to collapse also. The impact of tariffs on China including an industrial slowdown and soaring youth unemployment are already apparent. Chinese exports benefitted from some efforts to bring forward demand to beat the tariffs in February and March. It will benefit further because Trump&rsquo;s recent 90-day extension on tariff negotiations runs past October, which allows most of the Christmas goods deliveries to take place before tariffs are raised. Still, this relief is all temporary. The full impact of U.S. tariff increases will hit China dramatically from November forward. China is weakening with or without U.S. pressure. Trump may apply the final push in the form of steep tariffs later this year. Still, China&rsquo;s path is clear including loan defaults, corporate bankruptcies and a maxi-devaluation of the yuan. This is all happening in real time. Investors beware.
We&rsquo;ll have more featured questions answered from the mailbag next week. One may even be yours or a question that has been on your mind, so stay tuned.

awn-hero-img-08-22-25

The Jackson Hole Speech: Markets Approve

What does the war in Ukraine have to do with the price of groceries in your local supermarket and gas at the pump? A lot more than you may realize.
Let&rsquo;s look at the situation on the ground in Ukraine and then widen the aperture to show how it affects the Middle East, trade with China and India, and ultimately the price of oil and the innumerable goods that arrive in your town by diesel trucks.
The narrative the western media puts out is that the war is a stalemate, Russian casualties are enormous, the Russian economy cannot sustain the pace of the war, and that with more weapons and money sent to Ukraine the tide can be turned, and Russia can be stopped in its efforts. Every facet of that narrative is false.
<h2 class="subhead">No Ceasefire for Russia</h2>
Russian troops are making advances along a 500-mile front from the southern Donbass to Kursk. It only seems slow because the Russia way of war is slow, methodical and lethal. Russian troops do not quickly assault a target city. They spend up to a year taking every village and town adjacent to the target until it is completely surrounded. Only then &ndash; when the defenders are isolated and cut off from resupply or rescue &ndash; do the Russian go in for the kill. Defenders are given a chance to surrender but are annihilated if they don&rsquo;t.
This methodical pattern has played out in battles for Mariupol (2022), Bakhmut (2023), Avdiivka (2024) and Chasiv Yar (2025). The next major target is Pokrovsk, a medium-sized city in southern Donbas but a critical logistics hub. Once the Russians take it, the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) will lose the ability to supply other positions along the entire front. At that point, there will be little to prevent Russian victories in Kramatorsk, Slovyansk and Lyman. From there, the Russian army will advance to the Dnieper River and gain effective control of all of eastern Ukraine. That&rsquo;s not a stalemate; it&rsquo;s a prelude to total victory.
The UAF have also suffered a total breakdown in the north as a result of their reckless invasion of Kursk (part of the Russian Federation) from the Ukrainian province of Sumy. The Russians repelled the invaders, wiped them out, and advanced in Sumy to create a security perimeter. This can also serve as a jumping off point for an assault on Kiev if the war goes that far.
This is why Putin has rejected Trump&rsquo;s call for an unconditional ceasefire. The UAF and Zelensky naturally want a ceasefire to rearm, rest and reposition for a continuation of the war. Russia will never agree because they are winning decisively and have the UAF in full retreat or else surrounded. This is where Trump&rsquo;s failure to understand Russia and the Russian way of war begins to echo in the global economy.
<h2 class="subhead">Sanctions and Assistance Won&rsquo;t Work</h2>
Putin will enter negotiations and end the war at any time but only on his terms. Trump believes he has leverage over Putin through economic sanctions and new deliveries of weapons and money to Ukraine. Trump is wrong on both counts. Here&rsquo;s why:
Every U.S. weapons system supplied to Ukraine since 2022 has failed. The Russians can jam the GPS guidance systems in the HIMARS artillery. Patriot anti-missile systems (that cost a billion dollars each) can&rsquo;t stop Russian hypersonic missiles and have been blown up one at a time. Abrams, Challenger and Leopard tanks supplied by NATO have been left burning on the battlefield. The F-16 fighter jets supplied by Biden are being shot down by advanced Russian anti-aircraft systems.
Supplying more failed weapons systems won&rsquo;t change the tide of war. Money won&rsquo;t help either because it&rsquo;s simply stolen by the Ukrainian neo-Nazi oligarchs.
Trump gave Putin an ultimatum, which expired on August 8. Putin did not comply (and no serious analyst expected he would). Trump will now lose face and lose credibility if he does not punish Russia. Hundreds of economic sanctions on Russia have failed since 2023. The Russian economy is outperforming the U.S. economy, and the ruble is at the same level against the dollar as before the war. New sanctions will also fail. Weapons and money will fail for the reasons described above.
<h2 class="subhead">What&rsquo;s Left for Trump?</h2>
Trump&rsquo;s next move involves secondary sanctions. These are economic sanctions imposed on third parties that do business with Russia instead of being imposed on Russia itself. The main targets for secondary sanctions are China and India.
Both China and India purchase large amounts of Russian oil. They pay mainly in U.S. dollars. Those dollars fuel the Russian war machine. Trump threatens to impose huge tariffs on Chinese and Indian exports to the United States if those countries don&rsquo;t stop buying Russian oil. This is the set-up for another Trump failure.
India and China need the Russian oil to fuel their growing economies. They will continue to buy it. At that point, Trump may impose the tariffs. But at the same time, India and China are both engaged in regular trade negotiations with the White House as the U.S. has been doing with countries around the world. It should come as no surprise that the India and China tariff negotiations have not been going well. Why should they agree to regular tariffs without knowing whether punitive tariffs are right around the corner? They won&rsquo;t.
China and India have various ways to respond. They could redirect their exports to friendly countries in Europe or Brazil and Australia. They could impose countervailing tariffs on U.S. exports to them, including soybeans and high-tech. They could restrict U.S. investment in their growing economies. The list goes on. What is certain is that the Trump tactic of secondary sanctions will hurt world trade and increase costs on many traded goods.
The biggest single cost will be a higher price for oil. That&rsquo;s because Russia, India and China will all incur costs in insurance markets and ghost tanker fleets needed to evade the sanctions in the first place. Who wins from higher oil prices? Russia. Who loses? U.S. consumers who pay higher prices for gas at the pump compared to a world without sanctions.
<h2 class="subhead">The Solution? Flood The Oil Market</h2>
The best course for Trump to end the war and help Americans is to end the sanctions on Russia and refrain from any secondary sanctions. The next step is to flood the market with oil whether it comes from Russia, Saudi Arabia or the U.S. itself. That would drive the price of oil from $65.00 per barrel to $40.00 per barrel or even lower.
Who loses from low oil prices? Russia. Oil prices of $40.00 or less will bring Putin to the bargaining table and help end the war in Ukraine. Trump doesn&rsquo;t understand how markets work and where the real leverage is against Russia. He&rsquo;s under the sway of the neocons and warmongers like Lindsey Graham, Keith Kellog and Marco Rubio. Based on their advice, Trump will continue to fail in Ukraine and with Russia.
The economic impact of Trump&rsquo;s misguided approach to Ukraine will not be highly inflationary but it will stand in the way of any disinflationary trend. Oil prices will move higher as Trump gets more desperate to put pressure on Putin. Let&rsquo;s hope that the more reasonable voices like JD Vance and Pete Hegseth can persuade Trump to avoid the secondary sanctions on China and India. That could moderate oil prices. But I wouldn&rsquo;t count on it. For now, the warmongers seem to be in charge.
We will keep a close eye on the Trump-Putin meeting this Friday for any breakthroughs in negotiations. Right now, Russia is holding all the cards.

What Ends the War in Ukraine? More Oil

It's prom season in Silicon Valley, and everyone's scrambling to pair up.
No one wants to be left alone on the big night.
OpenAI, this decade's undisputed AI prom queen, was once exclusively on Microsoft Corporation (MSFT)&rsquo;s arm.
But things have changed.
In recent weeks, Microsoft and OpenAI have struggled to agree on terms for their next deal.
The partnership that launched the AI revolution is showing cracks.
While Microsoft invested $13.75 billion in OpenAI and built the supercomputers that made ChatGPT possible, the relationship has gotten complicated.
The two companies are now competing for the same customers.
And OpenAI is looking for more dance partners.
<h2 class="subhead nbp">The $30 Billion/yr AI Deal</h2>
Last month, Oracle (ORCL) disclosed a cloud deal that would generate a staggering $30 billion in annual revenue.
This week, we learned that customer is OpenAI.
Yes, that's $30 billion in a single year.
For perspective, Oracle's entire cloud revenue last year was just $24.5 billion.
This is a monster deal that sent Oracle's stock to an all-time high.
Oracle is an investment we added to the Altucher Investment Network portfolio last May, which is now up over 110%.
But Oracle isn't the only new friend in OpenAI's circle.
<h2 class="subhead nbp">Slicing the Trillion-Dollar AI Pie</h2>
Google (GOOG) Cloud has also quietly been added to OpenAI's list of suppliers.
This is particularly interesting given that Google is OpenAI's biggest competitor in the AI race.
For Microsoft, this new "open relationship" status isn't necessarily bad news.
Yesterday's earnings proved just how well Microsoft is doing without exclusive access to OpenAI.
The company beat expectations across every metric, with revenue coming in $2.5 billion ahead of forecasts.
Azure, Microsoft's cloud platform, grew 39% - well above the expected 34-35% range.
More importantly, Microsoft's AI investments are already paying off.
The company now has over 100 million people using its Copilot AI tools each month.
After three years of deep integration with OpenAI's technology, Microsoft has built enough AI capabilities into its products that it could conceivably succeed without OpenAI.
The earnings call also revealed that Microsoft can now process 90% more AI requests using the same computer chips compared to a year ago.
This efficiency gain means they're getting much more value from every dollar spent on AI infrastructure.
Microsoft's Azure cloud platform remains the preferred choice for businesses, with 57% of IT leaders planning to increase their Azure spending in the next year.
Yesterday's results showed Azure revenue for the full year topped $75 billion - the first time Microsoft has shared this number publicly
Still, Microsoft and OpenAI are likely to remain close.
Bloomberg reports they're nearing an agreement that would give Microsoft ongoing access to OpenAI's technology.
However, no updates on those negotiations were mentioned during yesterday's earnings call.
The bigger story here isn't about who's dating whom.
It's about the unstoppable demand for AI infrastructure.
<h2 class="subhead nbp">Insatiable Demand</h2>
Microsoft's latest results show that even with recent economic uncertainty, companies are rushing to adopt AI tools.
The company's commercial bookings grew 30% to over $100 billion for the first time.
The pie is growing so fast that everyone can get a bigger slice.
We're seeing unprecedented demand for AI computing resources.
Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, recently tweeted: "If anyone has GPU capacity in 100,000 chunks we can get ASAP, please call!"
That wasn't a joke.
OpenAI is desperately seeking more computing power wherever it can find it.
Microsoft faces the same challenge - CFO Amy Hood said the company still has more demand than supply for its AI services.
This is why OpenAI needs Oracle, Google, and yes, still Microsoft.
No single cloud provider can satisfy the growing hunger for AI computing power.
For investors, this means one thing: the companies providing the picks and shovels for the AI gold rush will continue to thrive.
Microsoft stock is up roughly 4.5% today, putting the company&rsquo;s valuation at just under $4 trillion.
Whether it's Microsoft, Oracle, Google, or the chip makers powering it all, the infrastructure providers are positioned to generate extraordinary returns as AI transforms every industry.
This isn't just another tech cycle.
The wealth being created by AI will likely be generational, flowing primarily to those who own the fundamental building blocks enabling this revolution.
The prom may be getting crowded, but there's plenty of punch to go around.

ALN0UPDATE-07-31-25-IMG-POST

OpenAI's Open Relationship

Paradigm Press LLC, provides independent economic commentary, analysis and education through print and online publications, videos, online seminars, conference calls and more.

We provide independent economic commentary, analysis and education through print and online publications, videos, online seminars, conference calls and more.

Rickards Uncensored Call (with Byron King 1/5/2024)

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