Nick Hodge, Co-Owner of Digest Publishing and editor of Foundational Profits and Hodge Family Office, joins us for a longer-format discussion on and the macro and micro themes that are continuing to create volatility and noise in the general equities markets and outlook on the US economy and global trade. Despite the volatility in the markets, as evidenced by the VIX reading up above 50 earlier this week, he still sees opportunities in gold, silver, copper, and rare earth stocks for the balance of this year and longer-term.

We start off with the market uncertainty stemming from the constantly changing Trump tariff policies, anticipated Fed policy, the calls from many financial outlets for a recession, and the shifting narratives in the news cycle. These macro factors have roiled general equity markets much of 2025, but there has been a clear divergence into gold as a safe haven; even more so than bonds or the US dollar.  As a result Nick is still happy to have exposure to the quality gold developers like Revival Gold Inc. (TSXV: RVG, OTCQX: RVLGF) and Perpetua Resources Corp. (Nasdaq: PPTA) (TSX: PPTA).  Nick is not anticipating a recession, and is more constructive on the US economy in the second half of this year.

With regards to other metals Nick is also bullish on both silver and copper for fundamental reasons as well as recent pricing strength momentum, and he has been active in putting capital to work in Kingsmen Resources Ltd. (TSXV: KNG) (OTCQB: KNGRF), Gunnison Copper Corp. (TSX: GCU) (OTCQB: GCUMF), Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (TSX:ASCU) (OTCQX:ASCUF) and Quartz Mountain Resources Ltd. (TSXV:QZM)(OTC PINK:QZMRF).   We consider that domestic companies may get a premium in light of the recent Executive Order from the Trump administration focused on mineral resource development, and the potential for regulation to be eased in the US.  We touch upon some of the large domestic projects like Trilogy Metals Ambler Road access issue and Northern Dynasty’s Pebble project, but he’s never been interested in projects where the company has little control over government decisions.  Instead, he is happy to also play the copper and base metals production side of things with an investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE: FCX).

Nick also brings up rare earths as another area he is becoming increasingly bullish on due to the tensions between the US and China with regards to tariffs and export bans, and sited CoTec Holdings Corp. (TSXV:CTH)(OTCQB:CTHCF) as the type of company he’s happy to deploy capital into that that is committed to critical minerals extraction, including rare earths. through innovative and disruptive mineral extraction technologies like recycling, waste mining, and scalable solutions.

Wrapping up we focus on the upcoming catalysts from spring drilling season in the resource sector and the companies, geological targets, and jurisdictions that he is most animated by.

Click here to follow Nick’s analysis and publications over at Digest Publishing