Image Source: Unsplash
 

An Introduction
 

As I mentioned in Sunday's article (see here), "Monday could be another...banner day for rare earth stocks" and it certainly was! Last Friday the S&P 500 dropped 2.7% and the Nasdaq dropped by 3.5% as the closing bell rang out at the New York Stock Exchange while the stocks of rare earth metal stocks soared by 10.5%, on average, on the day. Yesterday (Monday), the S&P 500 was UP 1.5% and the Nasdaq was UP 2.1% and the rare earth stocks were UP 20.7% on the day with two stocks going UP 100% and $150%!
 

Is A China-U.S. Trade War Coming?
 

Last Thursday China tightened its grip on the rare earths market, of which it controls about 70% of the global supply, by requiring foreign companies to obtain licenses to export products containing more than 0.1% of domestically-sourced rare earths, or manufactured using China’s extraction, refining, magnet-making or recycling technology. and that companies using the metals for military applications would be denied. 

On Friday Trump responded by saying “there is no way that China should be allowed to hold the world ‘captive' with its rare earths policy because of its 'monopoly' on these crucial resources" and announced that the U.S. would be imposing an additional 100% on Chinese imports over and above the current 40% that is already in place, effective November 1st, and would also be imposing export controls on “any and all critical software.” on the same date. As a result, the stocks of rare earth metal companies soared. 

If Trump follows through with his intentions, investors fear that the load may be too great to bear for the U.S. economy, which is still reliant on imported rare earth metals as components for parts to build automobiles, solar panels, and the like. Perhaps the greater risk that weighs on the market is retaliation from China on U.S. goods that could lead to an all-out trade war. 

Our Rare Earth Stocks Portfolio
 

My Friday article, entitled  All About Rare Earth Metals: Production, Reserves, Stocks:

• explained what rare earths are all about'
• identified the 10 countries that mined the most rare earths in 2024,
• ranked the top eight countries in terms of rare earth element reserves, and
• provided a list of the biggest pure-play rare earths stocks, by market cap, trading on U.S., Canadian and Australian stock exchanges.

My Sunday article, entitled  Rare Earth Metal Stocks Up 19% Last Week; Now Up 177% In Last 3 Months - Here's Why provided: 

• an expanded list divided into those companies in production (producers), developing mines (developers) and exploring for such mineral deposits (explorers),
• each company's focus, country of operation, and market capitalization and
• stock performance for the week ended October 10th, and in the last 3 months.

Tuesday's article provides:

• a summary of the 11 constituents in our Pure-Play Rare Earth Stocks Portfolio by:
  • Producers (2),
  • Developers (5), and
  • Explorers (4), 
• the performances of each constituent, by category:
  • on Monday, October 13th, in descending order,
  • so far in October (i.e., MTD), 
  • and YTD for each category,
• each constituent's country of operation, and
• each stock's market capitalization.

Our Pure-Play Rare Earth Stocks Portfolio
 

Producers
 

1. MP Materials (MP): UP 21.3% on Monday; UP 41.7% MTD 
   • Country: U.S.
   • Market Capitalization: $13.9B
2. Lynas Rare Earths (LYSCF): UP 9.5% on Monday; UP 38.7% MTD
   • Country: Australia
   • Market Capitalization: $13.0B

Sub Total Average: UP 19.5% on Monday; UP 41.3% MTD; UP 462.9% YTD

Developers
 

1. Arafura Rare Earths (ARAFF): UP 50.0% on Monday; UP 153.8% MTD
   • ​​Country: Australia
   • Market Capitalization: $668M
2. USA Rare Earths (USAR): UP 18.6% on Monday; UP 125.0% MTD
   • ​​​​​​Country: U.S.
   • Market Capitalization: $3.2B
3. Liuka Resources (ILKAF): UP 13.9% on Monday; UP 44.4% MTD
   • Country: Australia
   • Market Capitalization: $2.1B
4. NioCorp Development (NB): UP 8.9% on Monday; UP 69.5% MTD 
   • ​​​​​Country: U.S.
   • Market Capitalization: $1.0B
5. Ucore Rare Metals (CVE:UCU): No Change on Monday; UP 42.2% MTD
   • ​​​​​Country: Canada 
   • Market Capitalization: US$570M equivalent

​​​​​​​ Sub Total Average: UP 13.8% on Monday; UP 26.4% MTD; UP 287.1% YTD

Explorers
 

1. Vital Metals (VTMXF): UP 150.0% on Monday; UP 117.4% MTD
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Country: Canada
   • Market Capitalization: $28M
2. Northern Minerals (NOURF): UP 100.0% on Monday; UP 100.0% MTD
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Country: Australia
   • Market Capitalization: $223M
3. Aclara Resources (ARAFF): UP 40.3% on Monday; UP 83.3% MTD
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Countries: Chile, Brazil & Peru
   • Market Capitalization: $668M
4. Mkango Resources (MKNGF): UP 14.1% on Monday; UP 41.9% MTD
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Countries: Poland & Malawi
   • Market Capitalization: $297M

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Sub Total Average: UP 40.2% on Monday; UP 75.5% MTD; UP 796.4% YTD

Summary
 

In total, our Pure-play Rare Earth Stocks Portfolio was UP 20.7% on Monday; is UP 36.3% MTD​​​​​​​ and is now UP 388.2% YTD