Who cares about Operation Epic Fury? These critical stocks just soared to new highs

Today’s issue in preview:

• Who cares about Operation Epic Fury? These critical stocks just soared to new highs

• The AI selloff creates an asymmetric trading opportunity. Lots of upside, little downside.

• Iran’s hidden business lesson: How to make a lot of money thanks to deglobalization

Who cares about Operation Epic Fury? These critical stocks just soared to new highs

Credit: Jon Tetzlaff

If there was an ETF focused on just trucking, it would be at a new high. That’s because shares in America’s largest trucking companies are among the strongest stocks in the entire market right now.

That’s bullish for the U.S. economy

Over the past year, I’ve frequently highlighted rising stock prices in critical industries like steelmaking, cement, construction equipment, and manufacturing as evidence that the U.S. economy is doing much better than the pessimists would have you believe.

Many investors obsess over government data such as unemployment figures, job hirings, and the Consumer Price Index. I like to know that data as everyone else does. However, when I want a read on what’s really happening in the economy, I place a lot more focus on what’s happening in the real world. This includes paying attention to the trucking industry.

The trucking industry is the opposite of glamorous. You’re never going to see a long and hyperbolic financial newsletter promo about it. No money manager or financial guru will go viral for a big call on it.

However, trucking is a “mission-critical” part of the U.S. economy. Virtually every piece of clothing, every piece of furniture, every package of food, every appliance, every device, every building material, every tool, and every household good purchased in America is transported by truck multiple times on the way to its end user. Trucking is the economy’s circulatory system.

This means the stocks of huge trucking companies like J.B. Hunt (JBHT), Old Dominion (ODFL), Saia (SAIA), and Knight-Swift (KNX) are “highly economically sensitive.” These stocks do well when America is making things, buying things, and transporting things.

This week, despite concerns that Operation Epic Fury could drive up oil prices and damage the economy, shares of these companies reached new one-year highs. The trucking business is booming.

These “real-world” economic indicators setting new highs is yet another bullish signal for the U.S. economy. When trucking is in a bull market, it’s a good thing.

The AI selloff creates an asymmetric trading opportunity. Lots of upside, little downside.

Credit: da-kuk

Over the past two months, I’ve spent a lot of time writing about and trading through the “AI Lawnmower” and the K-Shaped stock market it is creating.

The story here is simple: Investors are fleeing businesses that could be disrupted by AI, such as software, cybersecurity, and data analytics… while piling into businesses that AI cannot easily disrupt… businesses that make things you can stub your toe on, such as copper miners and manufacturers. This trend is creating both big winners and big losers.

Now that AI has hammered many technology-centric industries, is there opportunity in the wreckage?

Some top tech analysts and fund managers are replying “yes” to this question. They say cybersecurity stocks are an outstanding contrarian “buy after the crash” opportunity. Top cybersecurity names being mentioned include Palo Alto Networks (PANW), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Okta (OKTA), Zscaler (ZS), and Fortinet (FTNT). These businesses work 24/7 to keep our data and our money safe.

Cybersecurity bulls believe the proliferation of AI will help, not hurt, top cybersecurity firms. They say an explosion of AI agents will massively expand the cybersecurity industry’s overall market.

After all, if we’re going to have billions of AI agents performing billions of daily tasks in health care, education, energy, transportation, manufacturing, and technology, then we’re going to have billions of points of cybercrime vulnerability. And remember, crooks get to use AI too.

Very smart people are making this bullish case right now. I’m tempted to place this trade in the “too hard to figure out” category. The likely outcome is that some cybersecurity firms will get waylaid by a horde of upstart competitors leveraging AI … while others adapt to the new AI world and prosper.

I worry even industry specialists will struggle to fully understand the lightspeed rate of change each cybersecurity business must navigate… and which of the hundreds of competitors does or does not represent a real threat to each business.

However, the cybersecurity selloff has created an interesting trade setup that requires zero industry knowledge to understand. All you need is a working knowledge of kindergarten-level math.

The chart below shows how the Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUG) has been crushed over the past five months. Shares have plummeted from $35.50 in October to a recent low of $24. (The shares of individual cybersecurity stocks look much the same.)

If you want to follow the cybersecurity bulls into this trade, you can buy a relevant stock or two of BUG near its recent lows and set a stop loss at the same level. If the bulls are right and cybersecurity stocks rebound, you earn good money. If the bulls are wrong and cybersecurity heads lower from here, you exit with a tiny loss. You can structure this trade so it offers at least $5 of upside for every $1 of downside risk.

Upside of five. Downside of one. That’s kindergarten-level math that can make you a lot of money over time. This whole trading game is simple. Difficult, but simple.

Iran’s hidden business lesson: How to make a lot of money thanks to deglobalization

Credit: dan_prat

In the two months preceding Operation Epic Fury, the shares of many oil companies staged large rallies. Many oil stocks climbed 15% – 30% before the drones started attacking.

Oil’s industry-wide rally showcased a powerful reason why I’ve been bullish on critical resources over the past nine months. It demonstrated that in deglobalizing world where individual countries and regional economic blocs hoard and nationalize scarce and desperately needed critical resources, the price of those resources will go up and will often be cause for armed conflict.

It’s a bit of a mouthful, I know. But the story here is simple. After pursuing a deeply interconnected “globalized” economy over the past 40 years, many countries – most importantly the U.S. – are now pushing in the opposite direction… towards a “deglobalizing” world. Donald Trump’s effort to massively increase U.S. manufacturing capacity is a big part of this story.

As a result of the deglobalization push, many countries and regional economic blocs are hoarding and nationalizing scarce and desperately needed critical resources like copper, oil, lithium, and rare earth elements. This is driving their prices higher and will likely continue to do so for years in the future. In many cases, this competition will lead to armed conflict (see Venezuela).

Given all this, it’s no wonder one of our top oil recommendations – Suncor Energy (SU) – has soared in value since our recommendation. Suncor owns and controls an enormous hoard of crude oil. And – this next part is very important – it’s all in a safe place.

Suncor is one of North America’s largest oil producers. It holds more than 6 billion barrels of proven and probable reserves. But, unlike many oil companies, Suncor does not spend big bucks searching for oil on the Texas plains or drilling with offshore platforms.

Instead, Suncor operates in Canada’s oil sands region… where awesome amounts of hydrocarbons sit in “muck” near the ground surface. They are extracted with giant mining shovels and with “in situ” mining (pronounced by some as in-SIT-too).

In situ extraction involves inserting pipes into the ground, injecting steam into them, and extracting hydrocarbons through the pipes. This makes Suncor’s business more like running a factory than wildcatting with drill rigs.

Given Suncor’s relatively stable business model and enormous size, it is a “go-to” stock for large investors who want to take a position in the oil sector.

Suncor has another wonderful quality working in its favor. Its assets are in a safe jurisdiction. I can state with confidence that no caribou will ever strap on an explosive vest and attack an oil sands facility.

Given all this, it’s no wonder Suncor is up a huge 46% since our early November 2025 recommendation.

With this rally in mind, I state once again. In a deglobalizing world where individual countries and regional economic blocs hoard and nationalize scarce and desperately needed critical resources, the price of those resources will go up.

And when those resources are located in Canada, all the better.

Market Notes

• The bull market in heavy duty trucks Truck transmission manufacturer Allison Transmission (ALSN) reached a new one-year high this week.

• Our recommendation to invest in Engineering & Construction companies to play the AI data center boom and Power Grid Upgrade continues to pay off. Large E&C firms Argan (AGX) and Mastec (MTZ) reached new one-year highs this week.

• Oil refining giants Valero (VLO) and Marathon (MPC) reached new one-year highs this week.

• It’s a bull market in Florida real estate. Florida-focused real estate firm Joe (JOE) reached a new all-time high this week.

• Giant alcohol company Diageo (DEO) reached a new one-year low today. The booze industry is struggling with reduced rates of drinking.

• Natural gas transport firm Golar LNG (GLNG) reached a new one-year high today. The company is benefitting from growing natural gas demand.

Regards,

Brian Hunt
Editor, Money & Megatrends

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