Looking at today's jobs reports... Where the White House just put $2.7 billion... Nuclear enrichment is important now... A 300% gain for our Commodity Supercycles team... Nuclear stocks to own now...
To begin today, we have the first notable jobs data in 2026...
And the numbers show a mixed bag.
Today's Bureau of Labor Statistics' Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey shows that the labor market was heading in the wrong direction in November.
The number of job openings in the U.S. dropped from around 7.4 million in October to 7.1 million on the last business day of November. The reading is well below Wall Street expectations of closer to 7.7 million openings.
However, the private payrolls report from ADP covering December 2025 shows some signs that the labor market has stabilized. Small and large businesses had slight gains, and mid-sized employers added 34,000 jobs in December.
Now, these reports cover data from two different months at the end of 2025, but they represent the first look at the labor market in 2026.
As we discussed yesterday, Wall Street will be watching labor market data closely early this year as it "catches up" from last year's record-long partial government shutdown and data blackout to get a better read on the economy.
Tomorrow's initial jobless claims report and the "nonfarm payrolls" report for December (which is coming this Friday) will indicate more about the state of the labor market. Consensus expectations are for a loss of around 55,000 jobs last month and for the unemployment rate to move higher to 4.7%.
Moving on, the 'nuclear renaissance' continues into 2026...
Last year was big for the nuclear power industry and nuclear-related stocks. For example, the VanEck Uranium and Nuclear Fund (NLR) soared more than 50% in 2025.
That's about triple the S&P 500's return last year and even beat AI-darling Nvidia's (NVDA) gains. And some of NLR's components performed even better than that.
We've written for a few years that nuclear energy development is a "purple" issue.
That is, it's something both Democrats and Republicans agree on. Both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump administrations pushed forward policies to support nuclear energy, given its potential to help the country meet energy demand.
As we wrote back in a November 2024 Digest, citing the work of our Commodity Supercycles team earlier that year...
Nuclear is more efficient than the other major fossil fuels. Look at this chart the Commodity Supercycles team shared...
As you can see, you need a lot less uranium to power plants than any other energy source. Even better, nuclear energy is "clean" – producing no emissions. So nuclear can fit into any "green energy" plan.
In this other chart the Commodity Supercycles team shared, you can see that nuclear energy is also incredibly reliable, with very little downtime required for the reactors...
Given the massive amounts of energy the AI infrastructure buildout requires and soaring electricity prices across the country over the past several years, the push for nuclear development has become even more prominent.
Since coming into office, Trump has signed several nuclear-focused executive orders, and the government signed an $80 billion deal with Westinghouse to build new nuclear reactors.
The action has continued into 2026...
On Monday afternoon, the U.S. Department of Energy announced it's awarding $2.7 billion to a handful of U.S.-based uranium enrichment companies over the next decade.
The money will expand capacity of low-enriched uranium ("LEU") and innovations for high-assay low-enriched uranium ("HALEU") to make sure the U.S. has a steady supply of enriched uranium to fuel its nuclear ambitions. As the Department of Energy said in a press release...
Developing this new domestic production capacity for LEU and HALEU ensures an adequate fuel supply is available to maintain operations of the nation's 94 commercial reactors and builds a strong base to supply future deployments of advanced nuclear reactors.
Why enrichment is now center stage...
When uranium is mined, nearly all of it (99.3%) comes in the form of the U-238 isotope, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The rest comes in the form of the U-235 (about 0.7%) and U-234 (less than 0.01%) isotopes.
Put simply, today's reactors run on the U-235 isotope, so the mined uranium needs to be "enriched" to separate the different isotopes and increase the concentration of U-235 to between 3% and 5%.
But right now, the U.S. only has one "major" enrichment facility in New Mexico. So it has had to rely on uranium imports that mainly come from Russia.
The government is working to lower its reliance on imports. That's why it awarded funds to three uranium-enrichment companies – including Centrus Energy (LEU).
Centrus has its American Centrifuge enrichment plant in Piketon, Ohio. When the plant opened in 2023, it became the first U.S.-owned and U.S.-based enrichment facility to open since 1954.
That places it right at the heart of the government's domestic uranium enrichment plans.
Our Commodity Supercycles team recently locked in a big win in nuclear...
Commodity Supercycles editor Whitney Tilson and his team have been on top of the nuclear power trend for some time now.
In fact, they released a special report for subscribers back in November 2024 detailing their "top five stocks to profit from the nuclear renaissance." One of those stocks was uranium miner Cameco (CCJ), which the team originally recommended in October 2021.
In November 2025, Whitney and his team booked a 300%-plus gain on Cameco.
Put simply, Cameco is in a great spot in the long term to take advantage of the White House's nuclear push. But right now, the company's risk-reward setup has changed. The stock is now expensive (getting a "C" grade for valuation on our proprietary Stansberry Score), and uranium stocks are all over the news.
From the November Commodity Supercycles issue...
So we now have a stock that's expensive riding on a wave of hype. When we recommended Cameco, few people wanted anything to do with a uranium company. Now everyone wants in... meaning it's a good time to take profits.
We're up 322% including dividends since October 2021. By comparison, uranium just about doubled during the same period.
We tip our hat to the Commodity Supercycles team on locking in a big winner. But there's more to come from the nuclear story...
While the other four nuclear picks in the Commodity Supercycles model portfolio are all up big, they're still in buy range today. Existing Commodity Supercycles subscribers and Stansberry Alliance members can get up to speed right here.
If you're interested in learning more, click here for more information on how you can get started with a Commodity Supercycles subscription today.
Lastly today, don't miss this free briefing tomorrow...
At 10 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow, our friend Marc Chaikin – a Wall Street legend and the founder of our corporate affiliate Chaikin Analytics – is sharing his 2026 outlook publicly for the first time.
We suggest you tune in.
Marc's going to share details about the "January trigger," a market indicator that has 100% accuracy since 1950... and how this signal could "dictate your entire 2026" in your portfolio.
Based on this trigger, he's going to share the single worst money mistake you could make in the coming days and the one urgent move he recommends you make before January 14.
Plus, as he does each year, Marc has identified his Top 10 and Bottom 10 shortlists of stocks for the year ahead. And just for tuning in to this free event, you'll hear two free stock recommendations – one stock to buy and another to avoid at all costs as 2026 begins.
New 52-week highs (as of 1/6/26): First Majestic Silver (AG), Altius Minerals (ALS.TO), Applied Materials (AMAT), Valterra Platinum (ANGPY), ASML (ASML), Atmus Filtration Technologies (ATMU), Barrick Mining (B), BHP (BHP), Alpha Architect 1-3 Month Box Fund (BOXX), Ciena (CIEN), Pacer U.S. Cash Cows 100 Fund (COWZ), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ex China Fund (EMXC), Enel (ENLAY), EnerSys (ENS), Ero Copper (ERO), iShares MSCI South Korea Fund (EWY), Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), SPDR Euro STOXX 50 Fund (FEZ), Comfort Systems USA (FIX), VanEck Gold Miners Fund (GDX), VanEck Junior Gold Miners Fund (GDXJ), Hawaiian Electric Industries (HE), Hubbell (HUBB), Ideaya Biosciences (IDYA), Illumina (ILMN), IQVIA (IQV), iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense Fund (ITA), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A 50 Connect Index Fund (KBA), Kinross Gold (KGC), Lincoln Electric (LECO), L3Harris Technologies (LHX), Lumentum (LITE), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Mueller Industries (MLI), Merck (MRK), Nasdaq (NDAQ), Newmont (NEM), New Gold (NGD), Novartis (NVS), Ormat Technologies (ORA), Pan American Silver (PAAS), Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PSLV), Royal Gold (RGLD), Robo Global Robotics and Automation Index Fund (ROBO), Seabridge Gold (SA), Sibanye Stillwater (SBSW), Sprott (SII), Skeena Resources (SKE), iShares Silver Trust (SLV), State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Value Fund (SPYV), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM), Vale (VALE), Vanguard FTSE Europe Fund (VGK), Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM), and State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLI).
In today's mailbag, we have feedback on our Director of Research Matt Weinschenk's five predictions for 2026 that we shared on Monday... and thoughts on Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan's comments on the Federal Reserve in yesterday's Digest... Do you have a comment or question? As always, e-mail us at feedback@stansberryresearch.com.
"I'm going on the record to disagree with Matt's prediction that there will be a monstrous blue wave in this year's election, and that solar will soar. We'll have to wait and see, so I'll archive this for future reference.
"I think there is a better chance of a red wave in the election, actually. The recent local victories of Democrats in blue states are just what we would expect in those states. But there is no coherence in the democratic platform, if they even have one, they are not raising much money, they have no credible leadership, and the Republicans policies that started in 2025 will show some positive results in 2026.
"Solar has momentum, but it won't soar in 2026; it will slow down because the subsidies are ending, the economics are terrible, the grid is weakened, not strengthened, by adding solar, there is a lot of resistance to gobbling up more land and cutting down more forests. There is an awareness that China is the real beneficiary, and the costs and fire dangers plus the impossibility of being able to afford the expense of adequate battery backup are becoming better known." – Subscriber Al C.
"I agree with the comment of the Bank of America President Moynihan. We are out of whack listening to the Fed. I don't believe there has been a Fed Chairman since Paul Volcker who had a clue what he was supposed to do in their job... Thanks for printing Moynihan's comment." – Subscriber Scott S.
"To the Bank of America fella, No, what we should know is that the Federal Reserve [shouldn't] exist." – Subscriber Gary S.
All the best,
Corey McLaughlin and Nick Koziol
Baltimore, Maryland
January 7, 2026
