Stocks & Gold: Shutdown Impact & Market Recovery

USA Rare Earths Stock Pops as William Blair Initiates Coverage at ‘Outperform’

3 minutes ago

Analysts from William Blair see plenty of upside for USA Rare Earths (TO USE) shares.

The analysts initiated coverage of the stock and four others in the sector with an “outperform” rating, writing in a note to clients that “while many rare earth stocks have hit the cover off the ball in recent weeks, we believe there is still material future upside.”

William Blair noted that the Trump administration recently announced investments in MP Materials (MP), Lithium Americas (LAC), and Trilogy Metals (TMQ), and said that it believes “significant new financial backing and direct government stakes in rare earth companies could provide a second meaningful leg up for several rare earth stocks.”

USA Rare Earths shares, which entered Monday up more than 140% this year, surged 7% at the open.

Trump Aims To Cure High Medicine Prices, But Experts See Serious Side Effects To His Moves

57 minutes ago

The Trump administration has issued a flurry of orders aimed at lowering pharmaceutical prices, but experts are leery that the actions will achieve that goal.

The latest move in Trump’s ongoing campaign to reduce drug prices came late last month when the White House announced a deal between the government and Pfizer (PFE), the multinational company that makes COVID-19 vaccines, Viagra, and other widely used products.

Under the deal, which could serve as a model for agreements with other major manufacturers, the company will sell its products to Medicaid at prices on par with those offered to other developed countries. In addition, the company will offer medications directly to consumers at a discount on Trumprx.gov, a website scheduled to launch in 2026. In return, the company will be exempt from the punishing 100% tariffs Trump is threatening to impose on pharmaceutical imports.

The deal appears to address a longstanding complaint from Trump and U.S. consumer advocacy groups: the sticker prices for many drugs are significantly higher in the U.S. than in Europe. In some cases, drugs that cost thousands of dollars in the U.S. are available for low cost or for free to Europeans. For example, in 2021, a single injection of the arthritis drug Humira cost American patients $3,000, when a generic version was available in Germany for $10, according to reports.

Read the full article here.

–Diccon Hyatt

Americans Are Already Holiday Shopping. Will They Find the Deals They Hope For?

1 hr 57 min ago

Americans aren’t expected to slash their holiday budgets this year. But they may spend more time hunting for bargains—and find smaller ones than they hoped.

Consumers are expected to approach the year-end shopping season with the same thrifty ethos they’ve adopted for much of 2025 as they look to deal with tariff-fueled price increasesanalysts told Investopedia. Keen-to-save shoppers have already started surveying deals well ahead of “Black Friday,” surveys show, but many are holding off on buying.

New National Retail Federation research shows what others have already spotted: Americans plan to shop resale markets, hunt for deals and cut back on some purchases. On average, Americans plan to spend about 1.3% less on gifts, food, decorations and other seasonal items this November and December than a year earlier, the NRF said.

“It’s certainly going to be a weirder holiday season, at least form a consumer and brand perspective,” said Andrew Waber, who studies U.S. transactions on Amazon for PMG, a marketing and digital services company. “Purchase behavior may be a little different than what you expect.”

Read the full article here.

–Sarina strangled

Stock Futures Tick Higher to Begin Week

2 hr 35 min ago

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up 0.1%.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.2%.

Nasdaq 100 futures were 0.3% higher.