"Sell America" - A Trading Trend That Took Center Stage This Week
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Geopolitical uncertainty once again took center stage last week, reshaping global capital flows and reinforcing diversification themes that have been quietly building since late 2025. Concerns around trade tensions, tariff threats, and broader geopolitical friction triggered renewed discussion of a potential “Sell America” trade, pushing investors to reassess geographic exposure across equity portfolios. While U.S. markets absorbed modest declines, foreign equities, emerging markets, and precious metals attracted renewed investor interest.
Below we review recent ETF performance across major U.S. equity categories, followed by notable individual stock movers over the past month, before presenting our full strategy outlook.
ETF Performance
| Ticker | Name | VE Rating | Last Close Date | Last Close Price | Last Week Price | Change |
| QQQM | Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF | 4 | 1/23/2026 | 256.4 | 255.71 | 0.27% |
| SCHD | Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF | 2 | 1/23/2026 | 29.14 | 28.9 | 0.83% |
| SPYM | State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF | 4 | 1/23/2026 | 81.1 | 81.38 | -0.34% |
| VB | Vanguard Small-Cap Index Fund ETF | 2 | 1/23/2026 | 274.66 | 275.53 | -0.32% |
| XLB | State Street Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF | 5 | 1/23/2026 | 49.97 | 48.68 | 2.65% |
| XLC | State Street Com Svc Sel Sec SPDR ETF | 3 | 1/23/2026 | 116.96 | 115.17 | 1.55% |
| XLE | State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | 1 | 1/23/2026 | 49.19 | 47.69 | 3.15% |
| XLF | State Street Financial Sel Sec SPDR ETF | 3 | 1/23/2026 | 53.07 | 54.44 | -2.52% |
| XLI | State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF | 3 | 1/23/2026 | 164.22 | 166.9 | -1.61% |
| XLK | State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF | 5 | 1/23/2026 | 145.09 | 145.62 | -0.36% |
| XLP | State Street Cons Staples Sel Sec SPDR Inc ETF | 3 | 1/23/2026 | 82.91 | 82.11 | 0.97% |
| XLRE | State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF | 1 | 1/23/2026 | 41.25 | 42.21 | -2.27% |
| XLU | State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF | 3 | 1/23/2026 | 42.56 | 43.39 | -1.91% |
| XLV | State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF | 4 | 1/23/2026 | 157.48 | 155.74 | 1.12% |
| XLY | State Street Cons Disc Sel Sect SPDR Income ETF | 1 | 1/23/2026 | 123.13 | 122.3 | 0.68% |
Current ValuEngine reports on all covered stocks and ETFs can be viewed at HERE
Top 3 Stock Performers (Global)
| Ticker | Name | VE Rating | Last Close Date | Last Close Price | Price 30 Days Ago | Difference |
| SAABY | Saab ADR | 5 | 1/23/2026 | 40.09 | 28.52 | 40.57% |
| ASMIY | ASM International NV | 4 | 1/23/2026 | 842.5 | 610.64 | 37.97% |
| CCJ | Cameco Corp | 4 | 1/23/2026 | 124.04 | 92.84 | 33.61% |
Top 3 Stock Performers (US)
| Ticker | Name | VE Rating | Last Close Date | Last Close Price | Price 30 Days Ago | Difference |
| SNDK | SanDisk Corp | 4 | 1/23/2026 | 473.83 | 244.25 | 93.99% |
| FTAI | FTAI Aviation Ltd | 5 | 1/23/2026 | 292.1 | 172.83 | 69.01% |
| HL | Hecla Mining Co | 5 | 1/23/2026 | 31.81 | 19.2 | 65.68% |
Strategy Note
Geopolitical tensions surrounding Greenland-related controversies and renewed tariff threats revived discussions around a potential “Sell America” trade. As a result, many investors diversified portfolios away from U.S. equities amid rising uncertainty. U.S. equity funds recorded net outflows of $5.26 billion in the week ending January 21, reversing earlier inflows.
Despite these tensions, European equities experienced a sixth consecutive week of inflows, with $10.22 billion entering the market during the same period. Global emerging market equity funds also posted their fourth straight week of inflows, with ETFs attracting approximately $14 billion year-to-date as of January 22. Gold surged to record highs above $4,750 per troy ounce as investors sought safety amid heightened geopolitical risk.
Among indexed ETFs, SPYM (State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF) and IWM (FTSE Russell 2000 Small Cap ETF) both declined by 0.4%. In contrast, foreign equity benchmarks outperformed, with EFA (iShares MSCI EAFE ETF) rising 0.7% and EEM (iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF) gaining 1.9%. Once again, GLDM (SPDR Gold MiniShares ETF) led all broad equity asset class ETFs we track, advancing 2.0% for the week.
We believe the persistent outperformance of foreign equities and emerging markets represents a meaningful trend. U.S. investors with equity allocations heavily concentrated (90% or more) in domestic stocks may wish to consider foreign equity ETFs as potential diversification opportunities.
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