In this must-see market update, Larry Williams returns with timely stock market analysis, trading insights, and macroeconomic forecasts. Discover what’s next for the Federal Reserve, interest rates, and inflation — and how it could impact top stocks like Tesla (TSLA), Nvidia (NVDA), Apple (AAPL), and consumer staples (XLP).
This video originally premiered on May 27, 2025. Watch on StockCharts’ dedicated Larry Williams page!
Previously recorded videos from Larry are available at this link.
Larisa Sprott of Sprott Money and Argo shares her thoughts on the gold and silver markets, saying she sees the ‘smart money’ continuing to gravitate toward these metals.
In her view, price dips present a chance to get in at lower levels.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
American Rare Earths Limited (ARR:AU) has announced ARR advances permitting at Cowboy State Mine
Download the PDF here.
Challenger Gold Limited (ASX: CEL) (‘CEL’ or the ‘Company’) is pleased to announce it has entered into an Investment Protection Agreement (“IPA” or “the Agreement”) with the Government of Ecuador for its 100% owned El Guayabo Project (“El Guayabo” or “the Project”). Under the terms of the IPA, the Government of Ecuador has granted CEL legal protections including stability of the regulatory framework, resolution of disputes through international arbitration, and protection of CEL’s investment.
The IPA covers US$75 million in investment from CEL encompassing expenditures from CEL’s initial acquisition of the project in 2019 and expenditure incurred until the end of 2027. It has an initial term of 8 years and is renewable. Key incentives and protections under the IPA include:
Commenting on the Investment Protection Agreement, CEL Managing Director, Mr Kris Knauer, said
“The completion of the Investment Protection Agreement is a significant development for the Project..
The IPA provides certainty with respect to the legal framework governing the Project, including stable mining regulations and fiscal terms, and security of title and investment for the term of the agreement. Additionally, it provides protection from all forms of confiscation and a mechanism for international arbitration should there be any disputes related to the project.
The IPA is also timely given recent corporate action in Ecuador as we take steps to monetise our Ecuador assets following the significant resource upgrade from 4.5 million ounce1 to 9.1 million ounces1,2,3.‘
Click here for the full ASX Release
McLaren Minerals Limited (ASX: MML) (‘McLaren’ or ‘Company’), is pleased to provide a further update on the phase 1 Drill Program at its wholly owned McLaren Titanium Project in the western Eucla Basin, Western Australia. This update is driven by the completion of geological interpretation of all the drilling during this campaign, in the absence of laboratory results.
Highlights
McLaren Titanium Project
McLaren Mineral Sands Managing Director, Simon Finnis, commented:
“While we have not yet received any assays, phase 1 has delivered strong confidence to our team regarding this project. The most recent interpretation not only confirm the integrity of our geological model, but importantly, demonstrates the scale of the opportunity ahead. Defining substantial potential for mineralisation outside the current Resource boundary positions us well for future resource growth. We’ve also made solid ground operationally—drilling was completed on time, we’ve brought costs down, and we’re seeing strong local support. Taken together, these outcomes give us a great deal of confidence as we move toward the next phase of work and continue building long-term value for shareholders.”
Click here for the full ASX Release
Alzheimer’s disease treatment stocks are focused on Alzheimer’s disease, a degenerative brain disorder that results in declining memory and thinking skills and typically affects people in their mid-60s.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, neurons in other areas of the brain also begin to deteriorate as Alzheimer’s disease gets worse, resulting in the loss of basic human functions and overall cognitive impairment.
This condition affects more than 7 million people in the US alone; it’s also the most common form of dementia and is the seventh leading cause of death in America. Treatments are available to alleviate Alzheimer’s disease symptoms, but there are currently none that affect the underlying causes of this neurodegenerative disease.
Alzheimer’s disease therapies that have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) include: rivastigmine by Novartis (NYSE:NVS); galantamine, developed by Janssen, a division of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ); donepezil by Pfizer (NYSE:PFE); and memantine by AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV).
Since there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease, death is often the result for patients as the ailment causes brain deterioration. And unfortunately, Alzheimer’s disease is rising in prevalence — a report from Grand View Research suggests that the global Alzheimer’s disease treatment market will be worth a significant US$15.57 billion by 2030 as more patients need treatment, and as more investments are made in biomarkers for diagnosis and drug development.
Market cap: US$18.43 billion
Share price: US$125.81
The first NASDAQ-listed Alzheimer’s drug company on this list is Massachusetts-based Biogen, a pioneer in the field of neuroscience. The firm is focused on developing, manufacturing and marketing therapies aimed at treating serious neurological, neurodegenerative, autoimmune and rare diseases.
The global biotechnology firm’s research areas include Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. However, the launch of Biogen’s FDA-approved Alzheimer’s disease drug Aduhelm faced a lot of pushback in 2022, both from the market and from Congress, over what was viewed as a hasty fast-track approval process and exorbitant costs to patients.
Biogen gave it another go with Leqembi (lecanemab-irmb), its amyloid-beta monoclonal antibody for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, which the FDA approved in 2023 under its accelerated approval pathway. The drug was jointly developed by Biogen and Tokyo-based pharmaceutical company Eisai (OTC Pink:ESALF,TSE:4523). It is for patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia, and is the first drug shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease to win FDA approval.
In January 2025, Leqembi received another FDA approval, this time for intravenous maintenance dosing for early-stage Alzheimer’s. Later, in April, the European Commission granted Leqembi Marketing Authorization in the EU for the treatment of mild early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
That same month, the FDA granted fast track designation to Biogen’s investigational tau-targeting therapy BIIB080 for the treatment of Alzheimer’s.
Biogen’s earnings report for Q1 shows that first quarter global in-market sales of Leqembi reached approximately US$96 million, including US in-market sales of approximately US$52 million.
Market cap: US$3.68 billion
Share price: US$21.98
Acadia Pharmaceuticals specializes in neuroscience and neuro-rare diseases. The biotech’s product portfolio includes the first and only FDA-approved drug to treat hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis, as well as the first and only approved drug in the United States and Canada for the treatment of Rett syndrome.
Acadia’s clinical-stage pipeline includes drug candidates targeting Prader-Willi syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease psychosis.
The company expects to enroll its final patient in its RADIANT Phase 2 study of ACP-204 in Alzheimer’s disease psychosis by early 2026 and release topline data in mid-2026.
According to the company, there are currently no approved treatments for hallucinations and delusions associated with Alzheimer’s disease psychosis.
Market cap: US$642.85 million
Share price: US$7.53
Anavex Life Sciences is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for neurodegenerative, neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, Rett syndrome and other central nervous system disorders.
Anavex’ lead drug candidate, Anavex 2-73 (blarcamesine), has successfully completed Phase 2a and a Phase 2b/3 clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease.
In early January, the company announced positive topline safety and efficacy data from more than three years of continuous treatment with blarcamesine for early Alzheimer’s disease patients. Later that month, Anavex announced it had been issued a US patent for the treatment.
Securities Disclosure: I, Melissa Pistilli, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Recently, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy. Let’s just say there was no shortage of spirited debate between Kennedy and my Democratic colleagues.
Kennedy is leading a bold effort across his agency and others in the healthcare sphere of the administration — what he calls ‘MAHA’ short for ‘Make America Healthy Again.’ I am a strong supporter of Kennedy and his MAHA efforts. So are a vast majority of Americans.
Why? Because Kennedy, like myself, has seen the problem plainly: our federal health agencies — the FDA, CDC, NIH and HHS — have become too cozy with the industries they are supposed to regulate, too resistant to new ideas and too buried in their own bureaucratic bloat.
Instead of protecting public health, they have helped usher in an epidemic of obesity, chronic illness, mental health issues and disease. Government failure in this arena shouldn’t shock anyone — it’s the usual cocktail of corruption, complacency, greed and incompetence.
In a House hearing, one Democrat member challenged Kennedy’s record and accomplishments in his short tenure at HHS. Kennedy’s reply? ‘You’ve worked for 20 years on getting food dye out. Give me credit, I got it done in 100 days!’ — and without any new government regulations. That kind of decisive action is exactly what we need to improve the health of Americans.
I bring this up to say that I’m pleased with both the breadth and the speed with which HHS and other agencies under MAHA are moving to change things. MAHA is reexamining the childhood vaccine schedule, scrutinizing food additives and advancing a range of reforms that may seem small individually but together add up to meaningful improvements in the health of all Americans.
What’s most notable about this movement is how it brought together three somewhat distinct groups for change against an entrenched establishment.
Kennedy, once a Democrat, galvanized support from left of center. Libertarians, who’ve long fought for medical and food freedom, have joined as well.
Lastly, MAHA was embraced by President Donald Trump in his campaign. Together, these three groups are charting a new course.
No prior administration has ever dared to confront Big Pharma head on like this — not rhetorically, not legislative, not structurally, and no other administration has ever empowered its agencies to do so. That’s now changing.
This is what real leadership looks like. The bully pulpit being used to great effect. We are seeing companies across America phase out harmful chemicals from things like fast food fries and replacing them with healthy beef tallow. Others are voluntarily swapping artificial dyes and sugars for healthier, more natural ingredients for their products.
But the bully pulpit has to be matched with true regulatory reform, legislative victories and a coordinated team effort in order to make real, lasting change.
One lesson we must never forget and can’t ever let happen again is the authoritarian way our government responded to COVID-19. From vaccine mandates, forced masking and mask misinformation, to business closures and failed virtual learning, the government massively mishandled the pandemic.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, public health agencies, and school boards alike failed the American people.
That’s why I’m most grateful to be working with President Trump, Secretary Kennedy and a host of others in the administration to dig up what was hidden, to find what was never produced previously. What exactly went wrong and who was responsible?
What’s most notable about this movement is how it brought together three somewhat distinct groups for change against an entrenched establishment.
We will continue to get to the bottom of it, but even in a short time, we have already banned gain-of-function research and restored congressional oversight of how scientific funding and studies are allocated.
There is still a lot of work left to do, but the progress so far has been both swift and substantive. I look forward to continuing this vital work in partnership with the Trump administration and putting the health and freedom of the American people ahead of bureaucratic power and special interests.
Gov. Ron DeSantis urged House Republicans to take note of Florida’s successful implementation of ‘DOGE’-type governance and get moving on slashing waste, fraud and abuse identified by the executive branch organization.
‘Elon Musk took massive incoming – including attacks on his companies as well as personal smears, to lead the effort on DOGE,’ DeSantis posted on X.
‘He became public enemy #1 of legacy media around the world. To see Republicans in Congress cast aside any meaningful spending reductions (and, in fact, fully fund things like USAID) is demoralizing and represents a betrayal of the voters who elected them,’ the Republican said on Tuesday.
DeSantis had reposted a comment from former government scientist Matt van Swol, who claimed congressional Republicans have not done enough to go to bat for DOGE.
‘DOGE is literally one of the most popular government initiatives in history. 73% of Americans say they support cutting government waste. Trump brought in the smartest man on earth to do it… …the Left destroyed Elon for it …the GOP won’t vote on it I can’t believe this,’ van Swol said in the shared message.
In remarks Tuesday, DeSantis expounded upon his concerns, saying that Florida’s executive branch has successfully implemented DOGE-type policies in the state, increasing affordability, lowering taxes and ridding Tallahassee of waste and fraud.
He said Florida has been a state for 180 years, and it was his own administration who reportedly paid down 41% of its accumulated debt to-date.
DeSantis said the average Floridian’s share of the state debt is $400, while federally, their onus is about $105,000.
The governor noted how Musk stuck his neck out for DOGE and saw his car dealerships ‘firebombed’ and how the media ‘smearing him relentlessly because he basically said, look, we can’t keep doing this…’
‘And yet, we have a Republican Congress, and to this day, we’re in the end of May, past Memorial Day, and not one cent in DOGE cuts have been implemented by the Congress,’ the one-time congressman said.
‘That’s one of the reasons why we need a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It’s another reason why we need term limits for members of Congress. But I think what you’ve seen with how, and I kind of said this early on, that DOGE and Elon were on a collision course with the swamp.’
Libertarian-minded Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., had lodged a similar complaint – claiming that rescission votes to act on DOGE’s proposed cuts were ‘cancelled’ earlier in May – but a top aide to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., disputed the claim.
‘No votes on rescissions were cancelled this week. The Speaker has repeatedly expressed his commitment to save taxpayer funds via the rescissions process,’ wrote press secretary Athina Lawson.
‘Under law, this process requires a special message to Congress detailing proposed rescissions before Congress can act.’
House Republicans could not include any DOGE cuts in the ‘big beautiful bill’ because, in order to pass the Senate, the bill could only deal with statutorily ‘mandatory’ spending concerns.
The rules of Senate Reconciliation preclude that move as well.
The two options House Republicans have are to wait for a formal rescission request for a cut or cuts from Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought – a Trump appointee – and take that up within 45 days, or try to pass separate legislation themselves through the appropriations process.
The issue with the latter is that legislation independent of a request originating from the executive branch would require 60 votes – while a rescission request only requires a simple majority.
Republicans currently hold 53 seats in the Senate. Two independents – Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King, Jr. of Maine – caucus with Democrats.
However, Republicans have had luck putting Democrats in a bind via the appropriations process, as the last passage of the typically massive bills led to members of that party turning on its leader – Sen. Charles Schumer of New York – for ultimately voting to fund the government earlier this year.
Fox News Digital reached out to DeSantis and Johnson for comment.
President Donald Trump is the first president since Ronald Reagan to run and get elected on a peace through strength platform. To date, the president has executed this vision by leveraging America’s forward presence across the Middle East and Asia — aircraft carriers, fighters and bombers, and a global network of American military installations — to project power and restore deterrence.
The next challenge in realizing a peace through strength program is more fundamental: it will require addressing critical military vulnerabilities, including an overextended force, an industrial base at capacity, and severe readiness challenges.
To his credit, the president has lived up to his security goals on a number of fronts. Just as he dismantled ISIS shortly after entering office in 2017, the president targeted the Houthis to cripple their ability to interfere with international shipping transiting the Red Sea.
Operation Rough Rider, the largest air campaign since Trump’s operation against ISIS, went beyond President Joe Biden’s targeted pinprick attacks. U.S. airstrikes hit more than 800 targets and significantly reduced Houthi missile and drone launches. The president subsequently announced a ceasefire ending Houthi attacks on ships navigating Middle Eastern waters.
As for Iran, the primary source of instability in the Middle East, the president’s maximum pressure campaign includes arming Israel and bolstering deterrence in the region, by deploying a second carrier strike group, a THAAD missile battery, Patriot missile battalions and B-2 bombers.
In East Asia, the theater many Trump administration officials would like to prioritize, Trump has deployed anti-ship cruise missiles overlooking the critical waterways between the Philippines and Taiwan. It is the closest to the Chinese mainland that U.S. land-based cruise missiles have been deployed.
Trump has also ordered two freedom of navigation missions through the Taiwan Strait. The second operation on April 23, China’s Navy Day, was a direct rebuke to Chinese claims over Taiwan.
Now comes the harder part — addressing that trifecta of fundamental pressure points facing the military.
In the Red Sea, the Navy has performed admirably in its longest surface engagement since World War II. However, a friendly fire incident, the loss of several drones and two F/A-18s, one falling overboard during an evasive maneuver and another due to a failed arrest, reveal the limitations of a historically small fleet that is overworked and highly exposed.
Operations in the Middle East have also compromised readiness in Asia. In addition to air defense redeployments, the Pentagon may have to dip into stockpiles in Asia to replenish munition supplies in the Middle East. The shortage reveals a larger issue: transferring munitions gives up existing capability in Asia that won’t be replenished for years given the state of the industrial base.
Industrial challenges affect every munition from JASSM-ERs to 155mm shells. For example, in 2023 the Pentagon bought 55 Tomahawk missiles, yet 68% of that annual purchase was expended in one single day against the Houthis. Each new Tomahawk faces a two-year lead time, underscoring the urgent need for industrial expansion.
Trump’s application of peace through strength in the Western Hemisphere, while laudable, is adding new pressures to a force already at its breaking point. The USS Gravely, a destroyer that recently completed a nine-month tour in the Red Sea, was quickly redeployed to assist with border protection.
Some of the strain can be addressed with smart policy choices, such as how U.S. forces are organized in Europe. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently ordered a major restructuring of the Army, replacing some armored and attack helicopter formations with drone swarms and precision munitions which have proven their worth in Ukraine. Hegseth’s 8% budget reallocation plan is another opportunity to reinvest low-priority budget items into next generation warfighting technology needed elsewhere.
Unfortunately, there are signs that techno-optimism may be interfering with prudent budgeting: the administration requested a $893 billion base defense budget for FY26, well below the $1 trillion budget the administration promised which does not keep pace with inflation.
As a percentage of GDP, the president’s budget would be the lowest since the Clinton years, when the U.S. cashed a peace dividend at the end of the Cold War. The administration will find it challenging to implement a peace through strength program with a shrinking defense budget that would fall short of providing the necessary resources to sustain a forward presence that provides the president with military options and negotiating leverage over adversaries.
Fortunately, President Trump has congressional partners ready to pair his ambitious strategy with an ambitious buildup and budget. The chairs of the Armed Services Committees are determined to provide significant real growth to the president’s budget request, and the House reconciliation bill includes $150 billion for shipbuilding, Golden Dome, and other administration priorities.
As Reagan warned in 1986, ‘blueprints alone don’t deter aggression. We have to translate our lead in the lab to a lead in the field. But when our budget is cut, we can’t do either.’
Flanked by large ‘Peace through Strength’ banners at al-Udeid Air Base, a major staging area during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Trump recently declared that ‘America’s military will soon be bigger, better, stronger and more powerful than ever.’
With the right budget and right focus, he has a historic opportunity to fulfill that promise and cement himself as a peace-through-strength president. As the president confronts an ascending axis of China, Russia and Iran, he can move beyond employing the tools of strength to rebuilding that strength and delivering a lasting peace.
Michael Stanton is a research assistant at the Reagan Institute.