Dust and Dividends: Where Value Holds

The market, like a dry field after a long summer, has begun to crack. The S&P 500, a measure of many hopes and dreams, has shed some weight—nearly 4.5% since the trouble flared in the Middle East. And it continues to give ground, each drop a small subtraction from the savings of folks trying to build a little security. Most sectors feel the pinch, bleeding red in the March accounting. But even in hard times, some ground holds water. Some seeds still sprout.

The first of these is energy. The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow throat of the world’s oil supply, is constricted, and the price of black gold, and the gas that feeds our homes and cars, has risen accordingly. A gallon of gasoline, a necessity for so many, has climbed almost a dollar. It’s a harsh reality, but for those who draw their income from the earth, it’s a moment of bounty. ExxonMobil, a giant among them, has seen a lift of over 3% this month. Chevron, too, is climbing. And companies like ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, Valero Energy, and Marathon Petroleum are all showing double-digit gains. It’s a simple equation, really: scarcity breeds profit, and someone always benefits from the hardship of others.

The Gleam of Silicon and Storage

But the story doesn’t end with oil. There’s a different kind of harvest happening in the world of computer hardware. While the old economies creak and groan, a new one is being built on the back of artificial intelligence. Sandisk, a name that might not roll easily off the tongue, led the charge last year, a remarkable rise of 559%. And they’re at it again, up over 210% this year and 17% since the recent troubles began. They make the little chips that remember our data, even when the power goes out—a quiet kind of resilience.

Western Digital, focused on the older technology of hard drives, is also enjoying the lift, up 282% last year and 78% so far this year. IBM and Dell Technologies are seeing a good March as well. Micron Technology, driven by the relentless demand for memory, has climbed over 7%. It’s as if this new digital world needs ever more places to store its thoughts, and these companies are the keepers of those memories. The demand for servers, storage, and the peripherals that feed them is outpacing supply. For now, at least, this tailwind seems strong enough to weather the storms brewing elsewhere.

Guarding the Walls in a Troubled World

And then there’s the business of security. In a world where shadows lengthen, the need to guard what we have grows ever more urgent. Companies like Palantir Technologies, Palo Alto Networks, and CrowdStrike Holdings are all up over 10% since the recent unrest began. They build the walls around our data, the sentries that watch for intruders. It’s a grim business, perhaps, but a necessary one. Oracle, also in this line of work, is up nearly 7%, rewarded by large AI contracts and a surge in cloud infrastructure revenue. It seems the more we connect, the more we need to protect.

If you look at a market heatmap, those three sectors—energy, computer hardware, and cybersecurity—are the only real pockets of green in a sea of red. The weight of soaring oil prices continues to drag down most other sectors, and that will likely continue until crude falls back below $100 a barrel.

Whether these sectors are right for your portfolio depends on your own outlook. How long will the war continue? How high will oil prices climb? Will the demand for AI infrastructure hold strong? And will the need for cybersecurity continue to grow? These are questions each investor must answer for themselves. But in a world of uncertainty, these sectors offer a glimmer of hope, a chance to find value even in the midst of the storm. A steady return, a quiet dividend, can be a lifeline in troubled times.

2026-03-23 15:12

The Gleam of Silicon and Storage

Guarding the Walls in a Troubled World

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