A clue about the boom... What Taiwan Semiconductor's earnings say... Why 'AI fatigue' may present a buying opportunity... Silver has gone parabolic... What to do now... Three takes from our analysts...
 The first AI earnings update of the quarter...
Earlier this week, we previewed the start of earnings season... As we told you, it'll be a while before we get quarterly earnings from AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), the biggest bellwether for the industry – and perhaps the entire bull market. Nvidia won't report its earnings until late February. But overnight, we did get our first clues on how the AI boom went in the most recent quarter. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) is the world's largest contract AI-chip manufacturer, with customers that include Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). In the fourth quarter, Taiwan Semiconductor reported a 20.5% jump in revenue and a 35% increase in net income. Looking forward, Taiwan Semiconductor forecasts a 38% jump in revenue in the first quarter. When it comes to AI products specifically, the company sees sales growing 50% per year through 2029. And about the AI boom as a whole (and the narrative and questions about a potential bubble), here's what CEO C.C. Wei said on the company's earnings call... AI is real. Not only real, it's starting to grow into our daily life. That should sound familiar... In our write-up of Nvidia's last quarterly release in November, we noted that CEO Jensen Huang explicitly called out the "AI bubble" fears. Here's Huang on Nvidia's previous earnings call... There's been a lot of talk about an AI bubble. From our vantage point, we see something very different. This earnings report and outlook from Taiwan Semiconductor, whose shares rose around 5% today, suggest the same. The company manufacturing all these AI chips still sees ferocious demand. And the AI boom still has legs. The market thought so today, too. Major chipmakers, like Nvidia and AMD, saw shares rise following Taiwan Semiconductor's report, and the VanEck Semiconductor Fund (SMH) gained around 2%. One of our analysts agrees... In recent weeks, we've seen some AI stocks slump. Before today, Nvidia's shares were down more than 11% from their all-time high, and the Roundhill Magnificent Seven Fund (MAGS) was down 6% from its high. Yet the S&P 500 Index is near an all-time high. In his weekly update to subscribers yesterday, Select Value Opportunities editor Mike Barrett blamed investors' "AI fatigue" from a bull run and story that began around the end of 2022 and early 2023. But he says these folks are getting it wrong... Three years is a long time for a story to stay top-of-mind for investors. A certain amount of AI fatigue was inevitable. But we believe there's more upside ahead in the industry. As Mike writes, AI tech itself is still making huge strides... We continue to believe it's the greatest technology disruption of our lifetime. Hardly a day goes by that we don't read about fascinating new applications... Take the medical field. Dr. Samir Abboud, chief of emergency radiology at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, recently told the Wall Street Journal that generative AI helped him slash the time it takes to write an X-ray report... from 75 seconds to 45 seconds. The point is, there's a lot more to the AI story than just the bubble headlines. We're watching the warning signs... like how Oracle (ORCL) and a few other companies have piled on debt to build out AI infrastructure... and the "circular financing" in which key players fund each other, as we've covered before. But while we have noted cracks potentially forming in the boom, the technology is still becoming a bigger part of the economy and our lives. And Mike says real-world AI developments are what's really driving the boom. And investors who "give up" on AI now are going to miss out. That's why Mike reiterated his buy recommendation – and raised the buy-up-to price – for one of his favorite AI stocks... Nvidia. He detailed "three clear signs that investors have caught the AI Fatigue bug when it comes to this elite stock..." and why it presents an opportunity for buyers. Select Value Opportunities subscribers and Stansberry Alliance members can read his full update, analysis, and instructions here. AI isn't the only boom in today's market... We talk about the value in owning "hard assets" a lot in these pages. And if you've looked through our daily "52-week highs" list lately, you found plenty of examples of why... These stocks are having a moment amid mounting, consistent discussion of tight supply, growing demand, and geopolitical chaos with major commodity-producing economies. Today, we want to discuss silver. If you've been in on the silver trade over the past year, congrats. As we've written about as recently as last month, silver has been outperforming even popular AI and tech stocks like Nvidia and Alphabet (GOOGL). Our Commodity Supercycles team, for example, has recommended a pair of silver trades in their model portfolio that have gained 207% in the past 14 months and 268% in a little less than three years. They just published a terrific issue, covering investments in gold, silver, and other commodities, titled "The Next Chapter in the Great Commodities Supercycle." Existing subscribers and Alliance members can access it right here. And if you're interested in joining them, click here to learn more about the case for hard assets today and get started with a subscription. Very recently, silver has gone parabolic... It's up 20% already this year. That's right, just in the past two weeks. Stansberry Research senior analyst Brett Eversole noted this in his "Review of Market Extremes" in True Wealth Systems, published yesterday. As Brett put it, "This extreme rally has led to a rare situation: Silver doubled in just four months" – from late August 2025 to late December... 
So, again, if you're sitting on gains, that's great. Now it's time to think about what's next. Whenever any asset or stock "goes parabolic," especially a major one like this that's now up nearly 200% since its post-Liberation Day low in April 2025, it gets our attention. That's because, as Brett wrote, "No asset can rise that fast forever. Buyers eventually dry up... And then, prices fall." What could happen next?... Brett delved into history to show what investors may want to expect from silver in the months and year ahead. As Brett wrote... Going back to 1970, we've only seen four unique instances of silver rallying 100% or more over four months. And only one of those setups led to higher prices after a year. Take a look... 
The outlook isn't good for silver after this kind of rally. But it's worth putting these numbers into context. First, these examples are all from more than four decades ago. Today's metals market is larger, more liquid, and more institutionalized than it was back then. Second, the massive losing trade in 1980 happened after a unique historical event. The Hunt brothers – two sons of a wealthy oil tycoon – cornered the silver market in 1979 and 1980, causing prices to rise about 700% in a year. That guaranteed a crash. When we set that period aside, the first and last examples are the most useful to us. Between the two, we saw an average one-year drop of 13.5%... not great, but not catastrophic. Plus, silver did soar in late 1982 before eventually dropping. Overall, history suggests a "parabolic move isn't healthy," Brett said. A cooldown should be expected after a rally like silver has had over the past several months. But at the same time, "a crash is far from certain." Tread carefully in the silver trade right now, but it's not time to jump ship. Two more of our analysts are holding on... DailyWealth Trader editor Chris Igou and Ten Stock Trader editor Greg Diamond both have open silver trades in their portfolios right now and haven't closed them out despite the price action lately. In his issue to subscribers yesterday, Chris detailed why. He showed a pair of sentiment indicators that suggest "there's no feverish sentiment in the silver market... and that means this rally can keep running higher." DailyWealth Trader subscribers and Stansberry Alliance members can find Chris' full analysis here. Greg examined silver's move from a more technical view, which also points to more upside ahead. In an update for subscribers today, he wrote, "Given the strength of precious metals, this isn't something I'd go out and start shorting. We're still long silver." Earlier this week, Greg took 20% profits in just a few days on a long silver trade. Subscribers are sitting on a 31% gain in the rest of the position. As usual, subscribers can stay tuned for any trade updates in their inboxes. For now, though, we'll reiterate what Brett wrote in his update yesterday: "We'll be watching the price action carefully. And if our systems move silver to a sell, we'll move on. But we're happy to ride this metal's bull market as long as we can."
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New 52-week highs (as of 1/14/26): Altius Minerals (ALS.TO), Valterra Platinum (ANGPY), Atmus Filtration Technologies (ATMU), Barrick Mining (B), BHP (BHP), Alpha Architect 1-3 Month Box Fund (BOXX), CBOE Global Markets (CBOE), Century Aluminum (CENX), Pacer U.S. Cash Cows 100 Fund (COWZ), Donaldson (DCI), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ex China Fund (EMXC), Enel (ENLAY), iShares MSCI Spain Fund (EWP), iShares MSCI South Korea Fund (EWY), Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD), Cambria Emerging Shareholder Yield Fund (EYLD), Fanuc (FANUY), FirstCash (FCFS), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Cambria Foreign Shareholder Yield Fund (FYLD), VanEck Gold Miners Fund (GDX), VanEck Junior Gold Miners Fund (GDXJ), SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), Genmab (GMAB), Hershey (HSY), iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense Fund (ITA), Jack Henry & Associates (JKHY), Lincoln Electric (LECO), L3Harris Technologies (LHX), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Mueller Industries (MLI), Merck (MRK), Annaly Capital Management (NLY), Natural Resource Partners (NRP), Nucor (NUE), Novartis (NVS), Nexstar Media (NXST), New York Times (NYT), Pan American Silver (PAAS), Sprott Physical Gold Trust (PHYS), Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSLV), Invesco Oil & Gas Services Fund (PXJ), Royal Gold (RGLD), Roche (RHHBY), Roivant Sciences (ROIV), Sibanye Stillwater (SBSW), Sprott (SII), Skeena Resources (SKE), iShares Silver Trust (SLV), Snap-on (SNA), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO), Tenaris (TS), Sprott Physical Uranium Trust (U-U.TO), Uranium Energy (UEC), ProShares Ultra Gold (UGL), Vale (VALE), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM), State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE), State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLI), and ExxonMobil (XOM). In today's mailbag, continued discussion on the president's battle with the Federal Reserve chair... plus thoughts on other proposed ideas from the White House, like a cap on credit-card interest rates that we wrote about yesterday... Do you have a comment or question? As always, e-mail us at feedback@stansberryresearch.com. "I appreciate the comments from both Steve C. and Mike M. And I appreciate we can agree or disagree with perfect civility and listen to each other. Mike could be right about Fed bias, I don't know myself. I was commenting on the timing/purpose of an investigation into a man who's leaving office in 4 months. And with the severe gerrymandering going on in both red and blue states, it seems logical to conclude that these midterms carry more weight than usual to many. Every sitting president wants lower rates after all. Some are just more vocal about it." – Darren N. "Why are so many of Trump's ideas for 'helping' the economy so poorly thought through? First the 50-year mortgage, now this [10% interest-rate cap on credit cards]. One thing I am not so sure of, though, is how much spending will drop (at least in the next few months) if subprime borrowers lose their credit cards. Many will just seek out other sources for their credit, those sources will charge much higher interest rates than the credit card issuers, and the end result will be much worse than what we are facing now, even with 12% delinquencies on the credit cards." – Subscriber Sherwin R. "Concerning the affordability of houses and dwellings, I am confused! I thought the houses were unaffordable for the average American because not enough are being built and the ones which are aren't on the market! It is a supply shortage, not a lack of demand..." – Subscriber Alan V. Corey McLaughlin comment: Yes, you're right. Tight supply is a big reason why home prices keep rising, too, as we've written about before. And it is a longer-term trend. Changes in mortgage rates are going to influence activity, though, and what people can afford. Late last week, after Trump's mortgage-backed securities post on social media, the average 30-year mortgage rate briefly dropped below 6% for the first time in several years. And mortgage application volume jumped almost 30% from the previous week (with most of that activity likely just on Friday). Even current mortgage holders appear quick to seek out lower costs. Applications for mortgage refinancing last week jumped 40% week over week, and they were up 128% versus the same week in 2025. Just shows you the demand for "affordability." All the best, Corey McLaughlin and Nick Koziol
Baltimore, Maryland
January 15, 2026
Stansberry Research Top 10 Open Recommendations Top 10 highest-returning open stock positions across all Stansberry Research portfolios. Returns represent the total return from the initial recommendation. | Investment | Buy Date | Return | Publication | Analyst | MSFT
Microsoft | 02/10/12 | 1,481.1% | Stansberry's Investment Advisory | Porter | MSFT
Microsoft | 11/11/10 | 1,456.0% | Retirement Millionaire | Doc | ADP
Automatic Data Processing | 10/09/08 | 966.1% | Extreme Value | Ferris | BRK.B
Berkshire Hathaway | 04/01/09 | 783.7% | Retirement Millionaire | Doc | GOOGL
Alphabet | 12/15/16 | 727.3% | Retirement Millionaire | Doc | WRB
W.R. Berkley | 03/15/12 | 641.4% | Stansberry's Investment Advisory | Porter | ALS-T
Altius Minerals | 03/26/09 | 590.1% | Extreme Value | Ferris | HSY
Hershey | 12/07/07 | 512.5% | Stansberry's Investment Advisory | Porter | SII
Sprott | 01/11/18 | 512.4% | Extreme Value | Ferris | AFG
American Financial | 10/11/12 | 490.9% | Stansberry's Investment Advisory | Porter | Please note: Securities appearing in the Top 10 are not necessarily recommended buys at current prices. The list reflects the best-performing positions currently in the model portfolio of any Stansberry Research publication. The buy date reflects when the editor recommended the investment in the listed publication, and the return shows its performance since that date. To learn if a security is still a recommended buy today, you must be a subscriber to that publication and refer to the most recent portfolio.
| Top 10 Totals | | 4 | Stansberry's Investment Advisory | Porter | | 3 | Extreme Value | Ferris | | 3 | Retirement Millionaire | Doc |
Top 5 Crypto Capital Open Recommendations Top 5 highest-returning open positions in the Crypto Capital model portfolio | Investment | Buy Date | Return | Publication | Analyst | WSTETH/USD
Wrapped Staked Ethereum | 12/07/18 | 2,533.0% | Crypto Capital | Wade | BTC/USD
Bitcoin | 11/27/18 | 2,481.1% | Crypto Capital | Wade | QRL/USD
Quantum Resistant Ledger | 01/19/21 | 1,052.2% | Crypto Capital | Wade | ONE/USD
Harmony | 12/16/19 | 1,033.5% | Crypto Capital | Wade | POL/USD
Polygon | 02/26/21 | 658.8% | Crypto Capital | Wade | Please note: Securities appearing in the Top 5 are not necessarily recommended buys at current prices. The list reflects the best-performing positions currently in the Crypto Capital model portfolio. The buy date reflects when the recommendation was made, and the return shows its performance since that date. To learn if it's still a recommended buy today, you must be a subscriber and refer to the most recent portfolio.
Stansberry Research Hall of Fame Top 10 all-time, highest-returning closed positions across all Stansberry portfolios | Investment | Duration | Gain | Publication | Analyst | | Nvidia (NVDA)^* | 5.96 years | 1,466% | Venture Tech. | Lashmet | | Microsoft (MSFT)^ | 12.74 years | 1,185% | Retirement Millionaire | Doc | | Inovio Pharma. (INO)^ | 1.01 years | 1,139% | Venture Tech. | Lashmet | | Rocket Lab (RKLB)^ | 2.35 years | 1,034% | Venture Tech. | Lashmet | | Seabridge Gold (SA)^ | 4.20 years | 995% | Sjug Conf. | Sjuggerud | | Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B)^ | 16.13 years | 800% | Retirement Millionaire | Doc | | Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA) | 1.95 years | 775% | Amer. Moonshots | Root | | Rite Aid 8.5% bond | 4.97 years | 773% | True Income | Williams | | PNC Warrants (PNC-WS) | 6.16 years | 706% | True Wealth Systems | Sjuggerud | | Maxar Technologies (MAXR)^ | 1.90 years | 691% | Venture Tech. | Lashmet | ^ These gains occurred with a partial position in the respective stocks.
* Editor Dave Lashmet closed the first leg of this Nvidia position in November 2016 for a gain of about 108%. Then, he closed the second leg in July 2020 for a 777% return. And finally, in May 2022, he booked a 1,466% return on the final leg. Subscribers who followed his advice on Nvidia could've recorded a total weighted average gain of more than 600%.
Stansberry Research Crypto Hall of Fame Top 5 highest-returning closed positions in the Crypto Capital model portfolio | Investment | Duration | Gain | Publication | Analyst | | Band Protocol (BAND) | 0.31 years | 1,169% | Crypto Capital | Wade | | Terra (LUNA) | 0.41 years | 1,166% | Crypto Capital | Wade | | Polymesh (POLYX) | 3.84 years | 1,157% | Crypto Capital | Wade | | Frontier (FRONT) | 0.09 years | 979% | Crypto Capital | Wade | | Binance Coin (BNB) | 1.78 years | 963% | Crypto Capital | Wade | | 
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