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• Content META

  Title	Uncle Sam is outperforming the S&P 500
  ID	27774174
  External ID	1b0fe09e21952c75f0afba1608130221
  Author	John Towfighi
  Published Date	Nov. 17, 2025, 10:33 a.m.
  Summary	The Trump administration is investing in publicly traded companies — and it's sending stocks soaring higher.
  Tags
  URL	https://www.wdsu.com/article/government-equity-stakes-stocks-soar/69458973
  Sentiment	Negative: 0.07572    Neutral: 0.89489    Positive: 0.02939
  Relevance	0.02655

• Content Details

  Content ID	35456570
  Key	87559472-73f9-4bde-89b4-58f60aaa454b
  Content	*** turbulent stock market. *** new report shows that the US economy had its worst quarter since 2022. Fears of *** recession and consumer confidence plummeting to *** five-year low. I think anything like this is *** good opportunity for people to try to be more in control of their money or at least be more aware of their financial situations. Jessica Roy is *** personal finance journalist for our Hearst Partners at the San Francisco Chronicle. She says it's important to play the long game when it comes to your investment. The best thing you can do is, yeah, stay the course, don't touch your investments. Whatever investment plan you had before the stock market went crazy, just keep doing that. That advice isn't just for young people who have longer to wait until retirement. Jessica says it applies to retirees too. Most people, as they approach retirement, they convert from mostly in the market to *** mix of bonds and equity in the stock market and money in *** high yield savings account. Right now, touch your depreciated stock market equity as little as. Possible if you can pull from your bonds, if you can pull from your cash savings, now's the time to do it. And the biggest mistake people can make converting all their 401k to cash or even worse, pulling it all out of their accounts. We've historically seen the stock market goes in cycles. Anybody who pulled out their money during the 2008 recession, during COVID, any of those times, those people all lost money. Instead, focus on the things you can control like cutting unnecessary expenses and resisting the urge to start. buying. *** question I've gotten *** ton is people are like, Should I buy *** car now? Should I buy *** stove? Should I buy *** vacuum cleaner, *** stroller? If you know your major appliance or automobile is going to be like dead in the next 6 months, like an imminent uncertain death, it's probably better to buy it now, but I think the smartest thing you can do right now is avoid making major purchases. I've seen there are *** lot of people who are running out to buy *** new phone, running out to buy *** new appliance, whatever. I would say don't do that, cash in hand is king right now. Another thing you can focus on automating your savings and building up your emergency fund. Use direct deposit and set up *** portion of your paycheck to go directly into your savings account. And don't be afraid to start small. Every bit counts and you can always increase it later. Reporting in Washington, I'm Amy Lou. Advertisement Uncle Sam is outperforming the S&P 500 Editorial Standards ⓘ The Trump administration is investing in publicly traded companies – and it's sending stocks soaring higher.Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. government has taken equity stakes in companies including Intel (INTC), MP Materials (MP), Lithium Americas (LAC) and Trilogy Metals (TMQ). Investing in public companies is an unusual move that has sparked debate on Wall Street and Capitol Hill about whether the government should be interfering in markets.Related video above: Best money moves to make in a volatile economyProponents say the equity stakes are a strategic move to support companies in industries that are critical to national security, such as rare earths mining and the production of semiconductor chips. Critics, meanwhile, say it's a heavy-handed use of government influence that is un-American and exposes taxpayers to unnecessary risk.So far, the government's portfolio is outperforming the S&P 500. Intel shares are up 77% this year. MP Materials shares have soared 276%. Lithium Americas and Trilogy Metals shares are up 50% and 204%, respectively. The benchmark S&P 500 is up 14.5% this year."Markets seem to be understanding these deals as the federal government signaling it will continue to support these companies," said Joel Dodge, director of industrial policy and economic security at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator.Which companies is the US investing in?MP Materials is a rare-earths mining company. The company on July 10 announced the Department of Defense (now the Department of War) would purchase $400 million of the company's stock, giving it a 15% equity stake and making it the company's largest shareholder.Intel, the beleaguered chipmaker, announced on Aug. 22 that the U.S. government would invest $8.9 billion in the company, resulting in a 9.9% equity stake. On October 1, the Energy Department announced it would take a 5% equity stake in Lithium Americas, a lithium production company.Trilogy Metals, a mining company that is developing an enormous mining project in Alaska, announced on Oct. 6 that the U.S. government would invest in the company. The Department of War took a 10% equity stake in Trilogy Metals.The Commerce Department announced on Nov. 3 that it would take a $50 million stake in Vulcan Elements, a private rare earths start-up. The government also has a "golden share" in U.S. Steel as part of a national security agreement with Nippon Steel, which acquired the company in June.Why is the government doing this?The Trump administration's actions are meant to address trade tensions with China, including bolstering supply chains of critical materials like chips and rare-earth minerals.Rare earths in particular have become a sticking point in the U.S.-China trade war. The minerals are used in everyday items like mobile phones as well as highly sensitive industries like defense, aerospace and the military.China accounts for roughly 70% of global rare-earth elements mining output, 90% of rare earths refining output and over 90% of rare-earth magnet production, according to ING, a Dutch bank."Self-sufficiency, allied resilience and national industrial champions are no longer optional," James Litinsky, chief executive at MP Materials, said on the company's earnings call on Nov. 6. "They are the front lines of security."White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement that "the Trump administration is committed to using every tool at our disposal to safeguard America's national and economic security."There is precedent for the government to take stakes in companies to bail them out during a crisis. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, the government took stakes in companies including General Motors, Chrysler and AIG, then turned a small total profit when it exited those stakes by 2015.But the government taking stock in companies outside of emergency situations is rare. Experts say it falls within a legal gray area."It is a real break from past attitudes toward government ownership, particularly for Republicans," Alan Auerbach, a professor of economics at UC Berkeley, said in an email.What are some of the concerns?Skeptics say this kind of government intervention goes against free market values — and raises the risks of big losses for taxpayers. It's also uncertain that an equity stake can produce stronger supply chains."There is the risk of failure. Not all investments work out," said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. "You're going to find people who are questioning, 'Why are we doing this? We don't need to risk our tax dollars.'"Scott Ladner, CIO at Horizon Investments, said he was skeptical about the decision to take stakes in companies. The government historically has been poor at picking winners, he said, and it could divert money away from other, more compelling companies that are not in the government's purview."I just don't like the precedent that it sets going forward," Ladner said. "These individual ones might end up working fine, but the precedent and the power that it gives to the government 10, 15, 20 years from now – I don't love that precedent."
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  Publisher Name	WDSU (#1238)
  Publisher URL	https://wdsu.com
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  Trust Flow Score	48
  Citation Flow Score	42

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  Data Source Name	NewsCatcher (#303)
  Data Source Type	news
  Data Source URL	https://www.newscatcherapi.com/
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  Weight	1