MW How investors reward a corporate chief's resistance to Trump's request
By Philip van Doorn
Also: A warning about gold, a hot tech subsector and an investor's change of heart about Elon Musk
Maracaibo Lake is the site of one of the largest oil reserves in Venezuela.
Exxon Mobil's stock hit a record intraday high on Tuesday. Then the stock did it again on Wednesday, before pulling back slightly on Thursday.
Here is a chart showing this year's total returns through Thursday for Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron $(CVX)$ and the S&P 500 SPX with dividends reinvested, along with price movement for front-month contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude oil (CL00):
Shares of Exxon Mobil hit all-time intraday highs on Tuesday and Wednesday. Rival Chevron's stock hit its intraday high in November 2022.
Chevron's stock has actually performed better this year. Then again, Chevron has been boosted by President Donald Trump's decision to have U.S. forces capture Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, on Jan. 3. Chevron maintained a presence in the country as Exxon and ConocoPhillips pulled out during a period of asset seizures that began during the presidential administration of Hugo Chávez and continued under Maduro.
On Jan. 9, Trump held a meeting with U.S. oil executives during which he requested their cooperation on a large round of investments in Venezuela. Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods pushed back on that request, calling Venezuela "uninvestable."
Then on Jan. 11, Trump said he might exclude Exxon from a new round of investment by U.S. oil producers in Venezuela.
Read: Exxon Mobil's stock hits a new high. Its CEO's call on Venezuela may be helping.
Claudia Assis interviewed Alex Cranberg, the chair of Aspect Holdings, which invests in oil exploration and production projects. Cranberg, who attended Trump's meeting with oil executives, made the case for a bold approach on investing in Venezuela.
Another potential disruption: Why oil experts say U.S.-Iran tensions feel different this time compared with previous crises
Is it time to be careful with gold?
This chart shows the movement of continuous front-month spot gold contracts (GC00) on the New York Mercantile Exchange since the end of 2023:
Gold was trading for $4,604.50 an ounce early Friday, up 6.1% from a settlement price of $4,341.10 On Dec. 31. During 2025, gold rose 64%.
Myra P. Saefong described market forces behind the continuing rally by gold and silver so far in 2026.
Christine Idzelis looked into gold's long history of price volatility after an investment-strategy team at Goldman Sachs issued this warning to clients.
The hottest area of tech
The S&P 500 returned 1.5% for the first half of January. That return and those for the index's sectors above include reinvested dividends.
During the first half of January, the information technology sector was the second-worst performer among the 11 sectors of the S&P 500. The index and the sectors are weighted by market capitalization. So this month's lackluster performance for the technology sector has reflected a slight increase for Nvidia (NVDA), a 5% decline for Apple $(AAPL)$ and a 5.6% decline for Microsoft $(MSFT)$.
Here are the best-performing stocks for the first half of January among the 70 companies in the S&P 500 information technology sector:
Company 2026 return through Jan. 15 2025 return Return from the end of 2024 through Jan. 15, 2026 Forward P/E Sandisk Corp. 72.4% N/A N/A 20.7 Intel Corp. 30.9% 84% 141% 75.2 Western Digital Corp. 28.9% 284% 395% 24.3 KLA Corp. 27.1% 94% 147% 36.1 Lam Research Corp. 27.0% 139% 204% 37.9 Applied Materials Inc. 24.2% 60% 98% 30.8 Micron Technology Inc. 17.9% 240% 301% 8.5 Teradyne Inc. 17.6% 54% 82% 41.9 Microchip Technology Inc. 16.8% 15% 34% 28.8 Seagate Technology Holdings PLC 16.3% 225% 278% 23.0 Source: LSEG
Forward price-to-earnings ratios for the stocks are in the rightmost column. You might need to scroll the table or flip to landscape to see all of the data. These forward P/E ratios are Thursday's closing prices divided by consensus 12-month earnings-per-share estimates among analysts polled by LSEG. They compare with forward P/E ratios of 22.2 for the S&P 500 and 26.1 for the index's IT sector.
The list doesn't include the 2025 return for Sandisk $(SNDK)$, because that company was spun off from Western Digital $(WDC)$ last year.
Semiconductor manufacturers and companies that provide services and equipment to that industry dominate the list. There has also been an undersupply of RAM, which is made by Micron $(MU)$, and shares of makers of computer storage memory (Sandisk, Western Digital and Seagate Technologies (STX)) have soared as well.
Getting back to the P/E ratios, Intel's $(INTC)$ valuation is very high by this measure. Investors buying up the shares are counting on a recovery for the company's product set and profits over the next several years. Micron has, by far, the lowest P/E on the list.
Here is some of this week's coverage from the MarketWatch technology team, shedding light on this year's action for the sector:
-- Micron's stock gets an $8 million vote of confidence from this industry veteran
-- Nvidia's stock was just named a top pick for a reason that might be surprising
-- Microsoft, Oracle and ServiceNow could be the top stocks to play a software comeback
Another tech take: Looking for a new quantum stock? Honeywell plans an IPO of its Quantinuum business.
Economic news isn't always dismal
Stubborn inflation, policy surprises and threats to job security from generative artificial intelligence might have made you more uncertain about the U.S. economy, but the most recent numbers indicated a 4.3% annual pace for GDP growth during the third quarter.
So what about this year? Jeffry Bartash explained how several tailwinds bode well for the U.S. economy in 2026.
Read on: Investors have shrugged off threats to the economy. With fourth-quarter earnings due, will company CEOs?
A different take on Tesla and Elon Musk
It has been easy to have a negative take on Tesla $(TSLA)$ because of the decline in its electric-vehicle sales brought about in part by the end of federal subsidies for EV buyers last year. Among analysts polled by LSEG, only 41% rate the stock a buy, while 20% recommend selling. Among the S&P 500, only 20 companies have a higher percentage of sell ratings.
Then again, analysts working for brokerage and research firms nearly all set 12-month price targets for the stocks they cover. And their ratings are based in part on the price targets. One year might be considered a short period for a long-term committed investor who believes in Tesla or in its chief executive, Elon Musk.
Charlie Garcia is a recent convert to a bullish view of Tesla. Here's the detailed thesis behind his recommendation to buy Tesla's stock now, based on part on Musk's history of completing big projects quickly.
What if you are saving well for retirement but lack cash for day-to-day needs?
Even a dedicated retirement saver might face the risk of drowning in loan payments.
A person who is working and making large contributions to an employer-sponsored retirement account might be in excellent shape when it comes to preparing for their golden years but might still have difficulty covering current expenses. This is a familiar story, according to some financial advisers.
This week in the Help Me Retire column, Alessandra Malito answered questions from a 57-year-old with plenty saved up in two retirement accounts but high monthly payments on $94,000 in debt. What action should she take to reduce her loan payments?
Read on: Want to be a rich old lady? Throw a party - really.
How much do you need to earn to afford a home?
The median sale price for an existing home in the U.S. was $414,400 in 2025, according to the National Association of Realtors. Aarthi Swaminathan broke down income levels needed to buy a $400,000 home with mortgage loans under various scenarios.
More coverage of residential real estate:
-- Here's how the housing market can rebound from one of its worst years in decades
-- How you could benefit from Trump's plan for buying mortgage bonds
-- Looking for a house under $300,000? Here's why newly built homes may offer the best deals.
For investors: Small-cap stocks
In an interview with MarketWatch, Matt Bartolini, the global head of research strategists at State Street Investment Management, gave four reasons small-cap stocks are especially attractive right now.
Starting with the S&P Small Cap 600 index SML, here is a screen narrowing the group to 25 highly rated stocks of companies expected to grow their businesses quickly through 2027.
Read on: Six stocks and ETFs that these unsung market heroes see outperforming in 2026
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January 16, 2026 13:22 ET (18:22 GMT)
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