So, the government, bless its heart, decided we needed a domestic supply. A grand idea, of course. They’ve sunk a considerable sum into USA Rare Earth (USAR 2.19%), a company that, as of yet, hasn’t actually dug anything up. It’s all promise and potential, like a politician’s pledge during election season. They’re aiming to pull 40,000 metric tons of this stuff outta the Texas ground by 2030. A mighty ambition, I say. Mighty.
Gold, that age-old arbiter of value and vanity, recently flirted with a peak of $5,419.80 per ounce on January 28th, a sum that briefly threatened to render mere banknotes utterly ridiculous. It then, with a petulant sigh, retreated toward the $4,500 mark in early February, before engaging in a capricious dance of ascent and decline. As of today, it rests at $4,878, a price point that feels, shall we say, merely adequate. A gold price that inspires neither breathless adoration nor utter despair.
They dig up gold, silver, copper, the usual suspects. When gold gets happy, so does SSR. When it frowns, well, you see the result. Today, gold was feeling particularly glum. Sliding back from a brief flirtation with all-time highs. A pretty penny lost, a lot of hope deferred. The market doesn’t care about hope.
The question, then, is not merely whether to venture into the realm of bonds, but how. One might approach this with the cautious reserve of a seasoned gambler, or with the reckless abandon of a newly appointed tax collector. I, as one tasked with the stewardship of capital, lean towards a certain… pragmatism.
It all started with Peter Rawlinson, a man who once oversaw the development of the Tesla Model S. (A vehicle which, it should be noted, operates on the principle of converting electrical energy into kinetic energy, a concept that continues to baffle some accountants.) He brought a certain…expertise to Lucid, but expertise, it turns out, is not always enough. Like many other ventures born from the enthusiasm of SPACs, Lucid promised a great deal and delivered…less. It’s a bit like ordering a spaceship and receiving a rather stylish bicycle. Still functional, but lacking a certain…altitude.
One stock caught in this particular whirlwind is Wix.com (WIX 3.64%). The website-building platform has dipped below $70 a share, its market value shrinking to a mere $3.8 billion. (A sum, incidentally, that could buy you a surprisingly small island, depending on location and the presence of pirates.) I suspect this is a rather overzealous reaction, a classic case of throwing the digital baby out with the bathwater, and potentially presents an opportunity for…well, let’s just say ‘interesting’ returns over the next decade.
Gold, you see, isn’t just a metal; it’s a story. A story of empires, of greed, and of people desperately trying to turn something pretty into something useful. It recently reached a dizzying peak of $5,419.80 per ounce on January 28th – a price that, frankly, felt a bit… ambitious. Then, as these things often do, it tumbled, falling to around $4,500 in early February. It’s bounced around since, like a goblin with a particularly energetic spring, settling today at $4,860. It’s enough to give one a headache, trying to follow it.1
A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a document that feels less like a statement of fact and more like a plea for bureaucratic recognition, confirms the increase. Ashford now possesses 4.32% of the fund’s reportable U.S. equity assets in Vicor, a percentage that feels simultaneously significant and utterly meaningless. The larger context, the intricate web of interconnected holdings, is as follows:
Coeur, as it were, digs up gold (and silver, zinc, and lead, though the gold is the rather more glamorous pursuit). When gold deigns to rise, so too does Coeur’s stock. When gold decides to have a little lie-down, Coeur follows. Today, gold is having a decidedly off day, and Coeur is obligingly mirroring its mood – down 8% as of this morning. One almost feels sorry for the analysts trying to explain it.
Three companies currently occupy my attention, not because they’re cheap – the market rarely rewards sensible pricing – but because they’re at the heart of a peculiar form of modern alchemy: turning sand into… well, more sand, but sand that thinks. These are Nvidia (NVDA 1.29%), Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM 1.83%), and Broadcom (AVGO 0.11%). Nvidia currently trades at a relatively modest1 $190, while Taiwan Semiconductor is the priciest at around $375, with Broadcom hovering near $340. I suspect, barring any unforeseen goblin raids or sudden shifts in the cosmic balance, all three will exceed $500 per share within five years. A bold claim? Perhaps. But I deal in probabilities, not prophecies.