Good morning, investors. I’m writing to you from a snowy midtown Manhattan, still energized about the AI-powered investment tool we just launched for our Best Ideas Club members.

The feedback has been resoundingly positive so far, and we still have powerful new features on the way.

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If you hesitate, you will miss the deadline and then have to pay the updated pricing for the new dashboard at $499 annually.

Hope to see you on the inside.

Now let’s talk stocks.

Latin American stocks are outperforming in a big way to start the year.

The iShares Latin America 40 ETF (ILF) has climbed more than 13.5% since I first wrote about it on January 5, the first trading day after the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro.

While that event provided an initial spark, the ensuing rally has broadened from a headline-driven spike into a structural bet on the region becoming a bullish geopolitical “risk on” trade.

The outperformance of ILF can be tied to the recent metals rally, which has rewarded markets tied to physical production, commodities and real-economy assets. 

That’s why Brazil — which accounts for more than half of ILF’s country weightings — has fared so well. Indeed, the country is the world’s leading producer of niobium, a key metal for aerospace and semiconductor hardware. 

Separate from a potential regime change in Venezuela, the LatAM trade has been bolstered further by a new trade deal last week between the European Union and the Mercosur bloc that includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. 

Officials said the partnership creates a $22 trillion economic zone that grants the EU trade access to almost all of Latin America, effectively bypassing the tariff uncertainty currently reshaping trade for other corners of the globe. 

If the deal holds, key exports across Brazil’s minerals and Argentina’s agriculture could flow without input from Washington or Beijing. 

To be sure, Latin American stocks remain sensitive to fluctuations in the US dollar and commodity demand. 

That said, the ILF’s double-digit gain suggests the spillover from Venezuela has matured into a broader repricing of the entire region. 

Meanwhile, a wave of elections that could push the region to the right politically could provide another tailwind for asset prices.

Latin America, as tracked by ILF, seems positioned to run higher in 2026.

📊It’s the busiest week of the quarter. Four of the Magnificent 7 report earnings, the Fed meets on Wednesday, and a slate of economic data are due to release. Plus, investors could get more updates on who will succeed Jerome Powell as Fed Chair. (Yahoo Finance)

📉Global markets are monitoring the Japanese yen. The country’s Prime Minister warned of action to halt the currency’s recent slide. Reports emerged too that US central bankers had contacted various financial institutions to ask about the yen’s exchange rate. (Bloomberg)

📈 Earnings are propping up the market. Despite drama in Greenland and controversy out of Davos, investors remain confident in the market on account of the strength of fundamentals. The S&P 500 is seen posting year-over-year profit growth of 8.3% for the fourth quarter. (Yahoo Finance)

I sat down with Wall Street veteran Mark Malek, CIO of Siebert Financial, to discuss the impact of geopolitics on asset prices, why he likes AI hardware plays for 2026, and the biggest risks for investors in the months ahead.

Tune in on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

🗓️ January 26, 1950: India’s constitution took effect, creating a democratic republic and the legal framework that still underpins the world’s fifth-largest economy today.

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