These Critical Mineral Stocks Could See AI-Style Momentum

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• America may be forced to accelerate its critical mineral supply chain buildout faster than investors currently expect as geopolitical tensions with China continue to rise.
• China dominates much of the global refining and processing infrastructure for critical minerals that are essential to AI infrastructure, semiconductors, defense systems, robotics, batteries, and next-generation manufacturing.
• The long-term investment opportunity may not be in rare earth discovery itself, but in building reliable Western supply chains capable of producing usable industrial-grade materials at scale.
• MarketGauge’s PRIME framework has identified several critical mineral stocks showing improving price structure, relative strength, institutional demand, momentum, and growth expectations.

 

Will Trump’s Meeting With President Xi Become A Critical Mineral Catalyst?

Considering the trends in 8 stocks in the critical mineral supply chain, the market is quietly suggesting the potential for some big bullish moves.

Any war of words over critical minerals between Trump and Xi could be the catalyst that ignites stocks with a 3.5 (out of 5) or higher rating.

More significantly, whether the catalyst is the upcoming meeting or not, the critical minerals arms race is a well-established multi-year investment opportunity that will continue to provide a long-term uptrend occasionally interrupted by extraordinary short-term manias and sharp corrections.

What’s Driving The Arms Race, and How To Trade It

 

 

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Every week we review the big picture of the market's technical condition as seen through the lens of our Big View data charts. The bullets provide a quick summary organized by conditions we see as being risk-on, risk-off, or neutral.  The video analysis dives deeper.

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Summary:  Markets continued to grind higher this week with the SPY, QQQ, and IWM all pushing to new all-time highs on strong earnings, broad risk-on participation, and subdued volatility, though the Nasdaq is becoming short-term overbought and internals have begun to weaken slightly beneath the surface. Leadership remains concentrated in technology and semiconductors while global equities, growth stocks, and most “Modern Family” sectors stay firmly in bullish phases, although elevated rates, geopolitical risks, and softer breadth suggest the market could be vulnerable to short-term consolidation despite the still-positive intermediate trend.

Risk On

• Markets continued higher this week, with SPY, QQQ, and IWM putting in new all-time highs as the markets responded favorably to earnings and shrugged off continued geopolitical uncertainty. Nasdaq is overbought on price and real motion. (+)
• Sectors were mostly positive on the week, dominated by monster performances in Semiconductors and technology. (+)
• The new high new low ratio remains strong overall but weakening over the last couple days. (+)
• The color charts (moving average of stocks above key moving averages) show risk-on readings, strongest in QQQ and IWM, with SPY lagging a bit behind. (+)
• Risk gauges remain quite strong with 4 of the 5 ratios risk-on with the wood/lumbar ratio being the only hold-out . (+)
• Volatility remained around its lowest levels since February and below its 200-Day Moving Average. (+)
• Growth put in new all-time high while value is also strong in a bull phase and momentum favoring a continued move higher. (+)
• The modern family looks bullish overall with 5 of the six in bull phases, though aside from technology, the members did not make a lot of progress on the week. (+)
• Emerging and developed foreign equities are all in bull phases with emerging markets putting in a new all-time high close on Friday. (+)
• Seasonal trends cool from earlier in the year but remain bullish for the next couple of months. (+)

Neutral

• Volume was fairly evenly distributed among accumulation days and distribution days. (=)
• The market internals remain fairly neutral even as the indexes pushed to new highs.. (=) 
• Soft commodity prices are trending higher overall, though they didn’t move significantly on the week. (=)
• Rates remained near their recent highs. (=)

Risk-off

• Oil came off its recent highs, but remains elevated overall and geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East is a major factor. (-)

 

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Actionable Trading Plan

The market remains in a strong risk-on environment, so the primary strategy is to stay net long and continue leaning into leadership areas like semiconductors, technology, growth, and small caps while avoiding the temptation to aggressively hedge simply because the indexes are extended. However, with QQQ now overbought on both price and real motion, breadth weakening slightly, and volume no longer overwhelmingly supportive, this is a good time to tighten stops, scale into positions on pullbacks rather than chasing breakouts, and raise some tactical cash into sharp upside extensions.

Tactical Positioning

• Maintain overweight exposure to:
  • Semiconductors (SMH)
  • Technology/growth leadership (QQQ)
  • Small caps improving in bull phases (IWM)
  • Emerging markets showing relative strength
• Keep exposure lighter in:
  • Rate-sensitive areas
  • Energy until oil/geopolitical direction becomes clearer
  • Defensive sectors unless volatility begins expanding

Entry Strategy

• Buy pullbacks into:
  • Rising 10-day or 20-day moving averages
  • Prior breakout levels
  • Short-term volatility spikes while VIX remains below its 200-day moving average
• Avoid initiating oversized positions after extended multi-day runs, especially in Nasdaq leadership names already stretched above upper Bollinger Bands.

Risk Management

• Tighten trailing stops on extended winners, especially high-beta tech positions.
• Reduce position size slightly if:
  • New high/new low ratio continues deteriorating
  • Market internals fail to confirm new highs
  • VIX reclaims its 200-day moving average
• Keep an eye on rates and oil:
  • Rising yields could pressure growth temporarily
  • A renewed oil spike tied to Middle East developments could rotate leadership away from tech

What Would Confirm Further Upside

• Broader participation from SPY and cyclical sectors
• Improvement in accumulation volume
• Internals reaccelerating alongside price
• Continued strength in growth over value without defensive rotation

What Would Trigger Defensive Action

• QQQ losing short-term support on heavy volume
• Expansion in distribution days
• New lows expanding while indexes remain near highs
• Volatility breaking higher alongside weakening breadth

For now, the tape still favors buying dips over selling strength, but the market is transitioning from an “easy broad thrust” environment into a more selective momentum phase where execution and risk control matter more.

 

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**There will not be a video this week