Missiles fly at Saudi Arabia – and oil prices fall... Trading Middle East negotiations, not attacks... There's always Greenland... Nobody bought anything... The investing opportunity in the defense supply chain... The 'soul' of crypto returns...
The war in Iran reached Riyadh's airport...
Over the weekend, the government of Saudi Arabia said it intercepted a ballistic missile aimed at its capital city early Saturday morning. Video out of Riyadh showed black smoke rising near an Aramco fuel depot by the city's major international airport.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for the strike and another on a different Aramco facility on the Red Sea.
For most of this year, Iran and its proxies have mostly stuck to disrupting Middle East shipping, with only some attacks on military or energy infrastructure of Iran's neighbors and enemies.
This weekend, it went after the airport of a U.S. allied power that millions of travelers a year fly through.
That's quite an escalation.
The Saudi crown prince has reportedly asked President Donald Trump for direct U.S. military strikes on the Houthis. What happens next remains to be seen...
The market traded the upcoming negotiation, not the missile...
Iran's allies fired a ballistic missile at the Saudi capital on Saturday. The market shrugged it off... And oil fell after this weekend's attacks.
The November contract for Brent crude, the international benchmark, is down nearly 4% to roughly $100 a barrel. In the U.S., West Texas Intermediate's October contract has slipped more than 4%, to around $95, approaching two-week lows.
It's not just that investors are nuts...
Turns out, Aramco is still pushing crude out of the Persian Gulf. And, as we reported last week, it's using smaller vessels for ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman. The Saudi national oil company has about 60 million barrels lined up, bound mostly for Asian markets.
Plus, the prospect of U.S. and Iranian officials talking again has some people optimistic – rightly or wrongly...
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will be in New York this week for the U.N. General Assembly. Trump is going to be there, too. He's scheduled to meet only with America's Middle Eastern allies, not its enemies. But falling energy prices speak to the market's hope that things will settle down.
With oil down, the major U.S. stock indexes were higher today.
The benchmark S&P 500 rose 1.5%, and chipmakers led with Intel (INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) up 11% and 9%, respectively. Those gains helped the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rise more than 2% to a new all-time record close.
Treasury prices recovered a bit, too, easing bonds' stubbornly high yields.
And then there's Greenland...
While the Middle East quagmire goes on, the White House announced something relating to a different part of the world map.
On Friday evening, the U.S. and Denmark said they had reached a security agreement about the Arctic island of Greenland, the one Trump has wanted to "buy" since his first term. It's set to be signed this week at the U.N. General Assembly.
The text hasn't been released yet. But according to the Trump administration, non-NATO countries won't be able to build bases or make "sensitive investments" in Greenland without U.S. approval.
Additionally, the deal would block China and Russia outright from sensitive sectors and critical minerals in Greenland (like uranium and various battery and technology metals).
The U.S. reportedly could build military sites there without asking Greenland or Denmark first (a big deal, if true).
And the agreement stays binding even if Greenland becomes independent from Denmark.
Trump called it "permanent control" of security "and all other needs" in Greenland, at no cost, and described it as an "Infinite Life" agreement...
Denmark's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, called the deal "great for NATO and Europe." And Greenland's prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said it "recognizes Greenland's interests."
It seems everybody got to say what they wanted. And nobody bought anything. The deal does reinforce the value of supply chains and control of assets that are critical to the economy – and the military.
The opportunity in America's munitions resupply...
On a related note, as we've written about in the past few months, with the Iran war dragging on, the U.S. is facing a munitions drawdown. Our colleague Dr. David "Doc" Eifrig wrote about this, too, in his Health & Wealth Bulletin on Friday...
Between the war in Ukraine and fresh conflicts in the Middle East, our stockpiles have dwindled, particularly of America's Patriot missile-defense system and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense ("THAAD") system.
Earlier this summer, news outlets reported that munitions stockpiles are "beyond critical." While officials in President Donald Trump's administration said these fears are overblown, it's clear that America needs to ramp up its missile production.
[Last week], Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth signed a deal that will allow more German manufacturing of U.S.-based weapons. And the U.S. spending bill for 2027 would increase the defense budget to more than $1 trillion – the largest ever.
You can argue about the scale of the need. But America's weapons stockpile must be refilled. Not only that, but our military also needs an overhaul to counter the latest tech innovations in field combat.
And next month – on October 12, to be precise – America's military leaders and defense contractors are meeting to discuss resupplying and rebuilding the nation's military... They'll direct the trillions of dollars that will flood the sector in the coming years.
Many investors are watching the "Big Five" defense contractors... but our friend Joel Litman of our corporate affiliate Altimetry says there's a better way to play this opportunity. It involves the smaller companies that the government could turn to. As Joel says...
As we restore our arsenal, the entire defense supply chain will feel the effects... from the largest weapons makers to the companies supplying the parts that keep production lines moving.
And with plenty of room to grow, they could become new household names.
We know few people who are more plugged in to the defense world than Joel. He has consulted at the Pentagon and with the FBI. And his world-renowned forensic-accounting research tells you what's really going on with businesses' balance sheets.
Joel will go live on Thursday with the full details. Our colleagues Whitney Tilson and Dave Lashmet will join him, too. Sign up for free here to make sure you don't miss anything.
No clarity needed...
Here's something we haven't said in a while... Bitcoin is soaring...
The cryptocurrency is up 7% in the past 24 hours, and roughly 14% in the past five days, to above $86,000.
Why? Well, let's take a look at the big news in the crypto world.
Last week, the Senate voted down, by 50-49, an attempt to bring cryptocurrency legislation – the CLARITY Act – to the floor for another necessary vote.
So, the procedural "vote to get to a vote" – formally called cloture – failed.
The proposal defines regulatory oversight and rules for digital assets in the U.S. The crypto industry considers it the next step toward clearer rules after the GENIUS Act (regulating stablecoins) was signed into law last year.
Here's why the vote wasn't bad news for bitcoin...
First off, this outcome wasn't exactly a surprise, as Crypto Capital editor Eric Wade told his subscribers in his latest weekly update video on Friday...
I wish I was surprised... There was a time I was extremely optimistic about CLARITY Act because it makes a lot of sense, but the horse trading that went on with trying to get it across the line took on a personality of its own.
Second, not everyone sees a problem with Congress' move...
The 'soul of crypto' is still large...
Remember why cryptos became popular to begin with after the great financial crisis? They're a way to trade value outside the conventional financial system. Bitcoin was conceived as an anonymous peer-to-peer payment system that would avoid traditional U.S. banks.
This was the "soul of crypto," as Eric describes it.
Things have changed since, with crypto ETFs available in brokerage accounts.
But based on how bitcoin and other crypto prices reacted after the vote, the "revolutionaries" still appear to make up the strong majority of the multitrillion-dollar crypto world. As Eric explained to his subscribers...
I've been pretty clear about this for at least two years... There is going to be two worlds of crypto: the revolutionaries and the regulate-me-harder guys.
Banks, brokerages, and some businesses welcome regulations. They give companies a framework to proceed – and make money – with some government rules to guide them without threat of legal action.
But, as Eric says, "The revolutionaries haven't been waiting for this. They haven't been saying, 'I can't wait for that CLARITY Act.'" The crypto market's reaction to the CLARITY Act hitting a roadblock shows that.
Bitcoin and other coins only dipped slightly on Wednesday after the vote failed, then rallied sharply in recent days. More from Eric...
If not getting what you wanted [only] knocked cryptos down 3% or 4%, most of us weren't affected by that. That tells me there's a lot of growth out there. It's not 50-50. It's probably 95-5 as far as a revolutionaries and regulate-me-please guys.
Existing Crypto Capital subscribers and Stansberry Alliance members have access to the video here. In addition to the CLARITY Act, Eric covered other crypto topics and gave subscribers another look at his latest portfolio recommendation.
Elsewhere, Buffett sheds another title...
The "Omaha sunset," as we've described it in the past, keeps drifting toward the horizon.
On Friday, Warren Buffett formally stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B), 61 years after he took control of the company. He's 96 now and his son, Howard – a Berkshire director for 33 years – takes over as chairman.
Greg Abel, who became Berkshire's CEO at the start of this year, keeps running the businesses.
As Whitney told readers in his Whitney Tilson's Daily e-letter on Friday, Buffett made the announcement in a beautiful letter to shareholders. Whitney added...
My only hope is that today's announcement wasn't triggered by a health problem.
While this news marks the end of a magnificent era, it wasn't unexpected – Buffett told shareholders long ago that his son Howard would succeed him.
And this has no impact on the company. Greg Abel has been running Berkshire since he took over as CEO at the beginning of this year, and Buffett remains on the board.
We'd add one piece of context. Berkshire under Buffett was a 61-year argument for combining patience, a pile of cash, and a willingness to mostly look boring for years at a time. It was a winning strategy.
Buffett is handing his Berkshire title off in a market that has lately rewarded the opposite.
Want more? In the newest episode of Top Stocks, our Director of Research Matt Weinschenk sits down with Whitney to talk about the strategy behind Buffett’s extraordinary track record, and whether Abel can successfully lead Berkshire into its next era.
Our conference is almost here...
One week from today, our editors, analysts, and invited guests will be on stage at the Aria in Las Vegas for our 2026 Stansberry Conference & Alliance Meeting, which runs September 28 through 30.
In-person tickets are gone. But you can still watch every session from home or your office with our Livestream Pass.
You'll have access to talks from famed actor Henry Winkler (aka "The Fonz"), highly sought-after tech expert Dan Ives, biomedical physician Dr. David Agus, bestselling authors, CEOs, entrepreneurs and innovators, and more...
You'll also hear top ideas from our team and friends, including Doc, Whitney, Eric, Joel, Dave, Brett Eversole, Dan Ferris, Greg Diamond, Gabe Marshank, Josh Baylin, and Marc Chaikin.
Click here to get a Livestream Pass right now.
New 52-week highs (as of 9/18/26): Alpha Architect 1-3 Month Box Fund (BOXX), Marathon Petroleum (MPC), Twist Bioscience (TWST), and Valero Energy (VLO).
In today's mailbag, a question about regular Friday Digest writer Dan Ferris... Do you have a comment or question? As always, e-mail us at feedback@stansberryresearch.com.
"Not that I mind reading Tilson, but I miss Dan. What happened to him?" – Subscriber C.H.
Corey McLaughlin comment: Good question. Whitney has written to you for the past few Fridays for two main reasons...
First, Dan has been working on a big new project that his subscribers and Stansberry Research readers can expect to get more information about next month. We're excited to bring it to you when it's ready.
Second, we wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to hear Whitney's comparison between today's AI boom and the dot-com-bubble days that he navigated as a hedge-fund manager. In case you missed it, his free presentation goes into more detail and explains what to do about it (including a group of stocks he's bullish on).
But Dan will be back in his regular Digest slot next month. And he'll present at our annual Stansberry Conference next week. Again, in-person tickets are sold out, but you still have a few days to get livestream access. Learn more here.
All the best,
Corey McLaughlin
Baltimore, Maryland
September 21, 2026
