Epic Fury sends an under-the-radar resource industry to new one-year highs

Today’s issue in preview:

• Epic Fury sends an under-the-radar resource industry to new one-year highs.

• The AI data center boom’s hidden winner

• Dell Technologies rides the AI wave to new highs

• A sign of the economic times: Home improvement giant Home Depot reaches a new one-year low

Epic Fury sends an under-the-radar resource industry to new one-year highs.

Credit: pingingz

On Monday, shares of AI semiconductor leader Marvell Technology (MRVL) broke out to new one-year highs. The stock is up 122% over the past year.

It’s yet more evidence that our longstanding recommendation to ignore the “AI Bust” camp… and stay in the “AI Boom” camp continues to pay off.

In late 2022 – before ChatGPT was released to the public – I told friends and colleagues that AI was about to explode into public awareness. Shortly after, AI did just that, marking the beginning of one of the biggest investment themes of our lives.

Now, more than three years into this super boom, big tech companies Meta, Google, Amazon, OpenAI, and Microsoft are engaged in an epic race to build the world’s best AI models and infrastructure. This year, they are on pace to spend over $600 billion on AI infrastructure, with more than a trillion dollars coming behind it. It’s the largest infrastructure spending boom in history.

Whether Big Tech’s massive investment pays off has become the most important issue in the stock market.

AI bears say much of this spending is madness. It won’t generate the revenues and profits required to justify it. Once the world realizes this is the case, GDP growth will stall, and the stock market will crash.

AI bulls say, “AI is the most transformative innovation of the century. Big Tech leaders know what they are doing. The investments will pay off.”

Regular readers know we like to know both sides of any debate about the “fundamentals” of a megatrend. But what the market thinks of those fundamentals is far more important than either side’s beliefs. For the past three years, I’ve frequently cited how the market likes the “AI Boom” thesis, as evidenced by the rising market values of AI infrastructure stocks.

Marvell Technology is a $95 billion maker of specialized semiconductors and data transfer equipment. Its key customers include Google and Amazon. In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, Marvell’s AI data center-related revenue grew 78% year-over-year. In our series on the coming Agent Supernova, we cited it as a way to invest in agentic AI.

Someday, the multi-trillion dollar AI infrastructure super boom will end. All trends eventually do. But for now, it’s boom times for this megatrend.

Dell Technologies rides the AI wave to new highs

Credit: Victor Golmer

Marvell isn’t the only stock telling us the “AI infrastructure trade” is alive and well.

Fellow AI leader Dell Technologies (DELL) is demonstrating terrific “relative strength” in a weak overall market.

Although the benchmark S&P 500 stock index has declined 4.78% since Epic Fury began, Dell has gained an incredible 17.6% during the same time. The stock is within a chip shot of reaching a new all-time high.

Those of us over 45 can be forgiven for thinking of 1990s desktop computers when we think of Dell. However, here in 2026, Dell is very much an “AI infrastructure” leader.

Dell still makes traditional computers, but a huge portion of its business is manufacturing AI data center servers and storage devices. Management reported a record fourth quarter driven by soaring AI-related demand. It expects AI-optimized server revenue to grow about 100% in the current fiscal year. Dell calls its AI-focused business unit the “AI Factory.”

Dell is another company on the receiving end of the largest capital expenditure bonanza in all recorded history.

Tech giants such as Google, OpenAI, Oracle, and Amazon have spent more than $1 trillion on AI infrastructure so far… are on pace to spend over $600 billion this year… and more than $2 trillion in the four years to follow.

Given the river of money flowing into AI infrastructure, it’s no wonder well-positioned companies such as Dell are performing well while the broad market suffered from Epic Fury blues.

Epic Fury sends an under-the-radar resource industry to new one-year highs

Credit: Jetlinerimages

Today, President Donald Trump threatened to wipe out the entire civilization of Iran if its leaders do not cede to his demands by 8 p.m. this evening.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

This situation has us firmly in the grip of what I’ve been calling “Groundhog Day of investors.”

Last week, I described how the situation works:

From an investment standpoint, it feels like we are living the same week over and over. The week goes like this: Donald Trump makes a claim about how well the war is going, hoping it will send oil prices lower. Iran issues a counterclaim and strikes another target. Oil prices go up. We hear the Strait of Hormuz might open. We hear the Strait of Hormuz is still closed. Stocks in a small number of industries that benefit from reduced critical resource supplies and corresponding high prices – oil, chemicals, fertilizers – go up. Most stocks go down or move sideways.

Rinse and repeat.

Groundhog Day for investors.

In this movie, critical price action in the broad market averages and most individual stocks is not being driven by industry fundamentals, valuations, or interest rates. It’s almost all being dictated by Operation Epic Fury and Donald Trump’s social media posts. Most of the market is trading in a unified “blob” that rises or falls based on how the war is going and how it is being spun in the media.

If the war ends soon, the S&P is very likely to pop higher and move higher over the long term. If the war does not end soon, its constriction of critical resource supplies will seriously damage the global economy, and stocks will trade lower. That’s all price action direction comes down to these days. It’s all quite tedious.

In this environment, the handful of market trends exhibiting strong price action are almost all related to the constriction of critical resource flows from the Middle East. North American oil and gas producers are doing well. U.S. chemical producers are doing well. Some U.S. fertilizer producers are doing well.

Although it isn’t getting much press, U.S. aluminum producers are doing well. Today, leading aluminum product manufacturers Alcoa (AA) and Century Aluminum (CENX) broke out to new highs.

Aluminum has one of the highest “strength-to-weight” ratios among building materials. This makes it an important ingredient in aircraft, cars, trains, and ships. Aluminum is also widely used in packaging, electronics, and construction. These varied and vital uses place aluminum in the category of “critical and strategically important national resources,” alongside raw materials such as copper, rare earth elements, and natural gas.

Epic Fury is serving as a wake-up call to businesses and governments worldwide. If your survival or smooth operation depends on resource flows from the Middle East, you are in a vulnerable position. This is bullish for critical resource suppliers from aluminum to zinc.

Market Notes

• Our March 6th recommendation to own chemicals is paying off. Chemicals and materials company Westlake (WLK) just hit a new yearly high. It’s up 66% YTD. 

• Cybersecurity firm A10 Networks (ATEN) reached a new one-year high today.

• Home improvement retail giant Home Depot (HD) reached a new one-year low today. High gas prices, high mortgage rates, and low consumer sentiment are depressing company sales.

• Clothing and shoe giant Nike (NKE) reached a new multi-year low today. A host of cooler, newer, and smaller brands are eating into its market share.

Regards,

Brian Hunt
Editor, Money & Megatrends

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