Bull Market Juice

A risk-defying market... Small caps are back... Intel's new investor... The U.S. government is up 50% on Intel already... The Fed's message has been well received... Joel Litman (and Whitney Tilson) on what to do now...

The bull market rolls on...

Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell poured some cold water on the market's mood – at least for a few hours – when he signaled uncertainty about the labor market and economy ahead while announcing a 25-basis-point interest-rate cut.

But, today, the bull market resumed... with new all-time highs for the major U.S. stock indexes.

The S&P 500 Index, Nasdaq Composite Index, and Dow Jones Industrial Average have all recently hit new records. And now, the small-cap Russell 2000 Index has too. It gained more than 2% today to set a new closing high for the first time since November 2021.

Tech stocks led the market today after news about an interesting partnership...

Chipmaker Intel (INTC) has a new investor...

This morning, AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) announced it will invest $5 billion in Intel as part of an agreement to codevelop data-center and PC chips. Nvidia will make the investment by buying Intel's common stock at $23.28 per share. With Intel's closing market cap yesterday of $116 billion, Nvidia has a 4.3% stake in the company.

Intel now has two fresh investors: the U.S. government (which took a big stake in the company last month) and Nvidia, the world's largest company with a market cap of more than $4 trillion.

As part of this deal, Intel will make chips that Nvidia "will integrate into its AI infrastructure platforms," the companies said, and Intel will also be able to build new PC chips using Nvidia "RTX GPU chiplets," which offer more speed and flexibility than a single conventional chip.

Nvidia has essentially agreed to become an Intel customer, supplier, and equity holder all at once.

The drive to 'win' AI...

We covered the U.S. government's investment in Intel last month. As we wrote in the August 27 Digest, the White House repurposed nearly $9 billion already-approved grants into a roughly 10% equity stake in Intel – citing "national security"...

Since semiconductors go into just about everything these days (from smartphones to cars), securing the semiconductor supply chain could help ensure American businesses get the chips they need. That's where the government's Intel investment comes in.

There's also the AI angle. The government wants to keep the best AI chips here in the U.S. so it can "win the race" to AI supremacy over competing countries (mainly China).

Even though the partnership announced today doesn't include a broad agreement to manufacture other chips for Nvidia, investors cheered the report. Intel shares soared 22% today, from around $25 to above $30.

At an entry price of $20.47, the government's position in Intel is now up roughly 50% in less than a month. And at its entry price of $23.28, Nvidia is already up 31% on its Intel stake.

AI has been a problem for Intel...

As our colleague David Engle wrote on our free Stock Market Trends site on September 10, Intel has fallen behind in the "AI accelerator market." And it hasn't succeeded in becoming a chipmaker for third-party customers. That has created several problems. From David...

• Declining revenue: Intel's revenue has been decreasing since 2022, with year-over-year revenue declines of 20.2% in 2022, 14% in 2023, and 2.1% in 2024.
• Cash-flow problems: In the second quarter of 2025, the company reported adjusted free cash flow of negative $1.1 billion.
• Foundry losses: The Intel foundry business, a perceived key to revival, reported an operating loss of $3.17 billion in the second quarter of 2025.
• Debt increase: Intel's long-term debt increased from $34 billion in 2020 to more than $46 billion by 2024.

But Intel has recently been taking steps in the right direction. Under a separate deal, Nvidia has been using Intel's central processing units for its DGX B300 AI-accelerated system. Today's announcement takes the commitment to another level.

Still, our proprietary Stansberry Score doesn't see the opportunity in Intel shares just yet...

While it receives moderate Capital Efficiency marks, Intel's Valuation score is about as low as it gets. With an overall score of 36, Intel gets a D grade.

However, Intel is a stock to keep an eye on. The size of Nvidia and influence of the U.S. government are two things that are hard to bet against and win.

Turning back to the Fed...

The Fed's meeting and guidance yesterday doesn't appear to have rattled market sentiment.

Today was a "risk on" day in stocks.

Most S&P 500 sectors were higher and typically defensive consumer-staples lost 0.8%. About 320 of the S&P 500 stocks were higher. As of today, more than 60% of New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") stocks are trading above their longer-term 200-day moving average.

As we have been writing lately, the Fed's 25-basis-point cut was already "priced in" to the market.

Our colleague and Stansberry Venture Value editor Bryan Beach wrote a great preview of the Fed meeting yesterday, which included this take that rings true today...

Generally, you may expect a rate cut to boost the stock market... But the logic gets murky fast. Because it's not just about fundamentals, it's about who was leaning the wrong way, how much of the cut was already priced in, and subjective factors such as whether the Fed is seen as proactive or panicked.

Over the past couple of years, every rate cut was expected and therefore already priced in by the time the Fed met. The slight fall on the announcement was often just "giving back" some of the gains in the buildup to the news. And some market participants had been hoping for a bigger cut than what was announced and sold off on the news of a relatively smaller cut.

In a post-announcement press conference, Powell didn't commit to what the central bank might do next. But 11 of 21 Fed board members projected either one or two more interest-rate cuts by the end of the year.

That has also been largely expected amid a weakening labor market, which Powell said is now more of a concern to the Fed than inflation.

Now that the Fed has cut rates...

Last night, Joel Litman – the founder and chief investment officer of our corporate affiliate Altimetry – went live with a new special briefing.

Joel is a world-renowned forensic accountant whose clients include members of the world's 10 largest investment firms and more than half of the world's 300 biggest money managers.

Now, he's going public with what could be "the single greatest moneymaking anomaly in the U.S. stock market today."

As Joel says...

Now that the Fed has cut interest rates, one of the most bullish moves in their arsenal, the result is one of the most extraordinary buying opportunities the stock market has given you since the AI boom kicked off in 2023.

As Joel explains, more than 300 stocks have already doubled in the past six months in the current environment. But we could see many more stocks gain 100% before the end of 2025.

Our own Whitney Tilson, lead editor of Stansberry's Investment Advisory, was so impressed with this opportunity when he heard about it that he joined the event last night. As Whitney said...

Ideally, you want to move your money before new earnings numbers are out of Wall Street, flooding the market in the coming weeks, because that's when a domino effect will be set in motion in dozens of America's favorite public companies...

Positioning yourself now will give you the very best chance to leverage the extraordinary moneymaking anomaly we're here to talk about today.

Joel and Whitney also shared four free stock recommendations – two to buy and two to avoid – for everyone who tunes in. Joel also shared how many investors today aren't just wrestling with the "fear of missing out" on big gains, but also the "fear of getting in" to the market... and what he says to do about it if you're one of them.

If you missed this briefing, you can watch a replay or read a transcript of the event here. But hurry, this briefing will go offline soon.

New 52-week highs (as of 9/17/25): AbbVie (ABBV), American Express (AXP), iShares MSCI BIC Fund (BKF), Western Asset Emerging Markets Debt Fund (EMD), iShares Convertible Bond Fund (ICVT), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), KraneShares CSI China Internet Fund (KWEB), Medtronic (MDT), Monster Beverage (MNST), Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy Fund (PBW), Roivant Sciences (ROIV), Valero Energy (VLO), and ProShares Ultra FTSE China 50 (XPP).

In today's mailbag, more feedback on the Fed and politics, which we wrote about again yesterday... plus a question about our 52-week high list... Do you have a comment or question? As always, e-mail us at feedback@stansberryresearch.com.

"No doubt, politics probably entered the Fed's decision yesterday. But anybody who pays attention and has a critical mind, knows the Fed has always been political... Nobody can convince me that the Fed's lowering of interest rates last fall, right up to the election, was not politically motivated to help [Kamala] Harris because the data to suggest rate lowering is far more convincing now than back then..." – Subscriber R.R.

"The 9/16 list of new highs is almost all some kind of fund. It seems unlikely that all these funds can reach a 52-week high without at least several companies also reaching a new high. What do you make of this curious event?" – Subscriber Bob B.

Corey McLaughlin comment: Interesting observation, Bob. I count 25 individual companies from the 52-week high list (of our analysts' open recommendations) listed in Tuesday's edition, and 23 that are sector-based funds. So, just about even...

I wouldn't read much into it other than noting two things...

First, we're in a bull market. Second, our editors sometimes recommend funds to express a certain thesis or trade, especially for shorter time horizons, and we also suggest buying shares of excellent individual companies to compound wealth over the long run.

It just depends on the publication, its goals, and our editors' choices.

All the best,

Corey McLaughlin and Nick Koziol
Baltimore, Maryland
September 18, 2025