⚔ Geopolitics mixed · 6–18 months
A what‑if from the future

What if US stockpile build for critical minerals tightens spot markets?

A Defense Production Act push to build strategic reserves of rare earths, cobalt, antimony and graphite pulls metal off the market, firming prices across the input chain.

20%
our model probability
over 6–18 months
prediction markets — wisdom of the crowd
loading live odds…
Empirically anchored 20% · 90% range 7–32% · 40 analogues · measured class defense 84% in 18 mo · 3% held back for the unknown
how we built this number — every step
Measured class rate — defense ≈1.2155/yr → 84% in 18 mo84%
Analyst prior · editorial share 24% of the class20%
Pooled · weight 87%20%
Crowd — no liquid market
Reserve 3% · no extremizing (×1.0)20%
Published20%

The class rate is measured from our dated, sourced event library (decade-normalized Poisson — the full table is public at base_rates.json). The variant’s share within its class is the analyst’s editorial call, published so you can audit it. A wider range means thinner precedent. Full recipe: methodology · scored at Reality Check.

The butterfly cascade

How this trigger trickles across markets, left → right — the root shock, its first‑order moves, then the ripple effects. Drag any node; tap a market for its real price history.

Resolution timeline — how this probability is moving

Our model's odds (gold) over time vs the crowd's (Polymarket, blue), from the past toward the 6–18 months horizon. Each dot is a real macro event that nudged the probability — green pushed it up, red pushed it down. Tap a dot for the source. The gold path is an illustrative reconstruction anchored to today's estimate — real dated events, not a live re-estimate history.

loading the timeline…

What it would mean

If this plays out, it is a mixed shock. A Defense Production Act push to build strategic reserves of rare earths, cobalt, antimony and graphite pulls metal off the market, firming prices across the input chain. The trigger decomposes into signed root‑shocks — Defense spending ▲ · Industrial demand ▲ · Risk appetite ▲ · Trade tension ▲ — which propagate through our causal graph to the markets below.

If it happens — the markets it would move

Biggest moves first. Projected moves are cascade-model priors; hist A–B% = what comparable past events actually did (measured abnormal returns), and model prior · unmeasured marks markets with no analogue backing yet. Tap any market for its price history.

MarketClassProjected move
1Semiconductors SMHon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.5%
hist -0.35–-0.16% · other way +0.92% (n=12)
2Lockheed LMT 📈 chartEquity▲ +0.5%
hist +0.11–+0.52% · other way -1.53% (n=12)
3Nasdaq 100 NDXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartIndex▼ -0.5%
hist -0.31–-0.17% · other way +1.52% (n=12)
4Northrop NOC 📈 chartEquity▲ +0.5%
hist -0.57–+0.48% · other way +0.75% (n=12)
5RTX RTXon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▲ +0.4%
hist -0.18–+0.32% · other way -2.56% (n=12)
6Alibaba BABAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.4%
hist -0.3–+0.01% · other way -3.04% (n=8)
7TSMC TSMon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.4%
hist -0.86–+0.15% · other way +2.95% (n=12)
8Nvidia NVDAon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.4%
hist -0.4–-0.05% · other way +7.76% (n=12)
9Tech sector XLK 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -0.25–+0.14% · other way +1.59% (n=12)
10Freeport (copper) FCX 📈 chartEquity▲ +0.3%
hist -2.29–+0.95% · other way +7.78% (n=12)
11AMD AMDon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -0.59–+0.05% · other way +4.75% (n=12)
12Broadcom AVGOon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -1.02–+2.86% · other way -0.12% (n=8)
13Micron MUon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -1.28–+0.4% · other way +6.05% (n=12)
14Marvell MRVLon Hyperliquid 📈 chartEquity▼ -0.3%
hist -1.2–+0.29% · other way +1.31% (n=12)

Probable recommendation

If the scenario above plays out, the probable cross‑asset positioning → a scenario‑conditional read, not personalized investment advice
For a common-man portfolio: Mixed for a typical portfolio — the move is more about rotation than direction. Favour the winners over the losers below rather than net exposure.
Also moves (not yet on Hyperliquid): Lockheed +0.5% · Northrop +0.5% · Tech sector -0.3% · Freeport (copper) +0.3% · Chinese yuan -0.2%

Historical precedent — what analogous events actually did

Across 40 analogous events (overlap‑weighted), as abnormal returns — market beta stripped, so it's the event's own effect, not the market backdrop. Shown at 20 days (persistent) and 5 days (immediate); ↺ fades = the two horizons disagree. Confidence = consistency × sample × significance.

China retaliates to Liberation Day: 34% tariffs + rare-earth controls 2025-04 Gold tops $3,000 for the first time amid tariff and rate-cut fears 2025-03 Soviet August coup attempt against Gorbachev 1991-08 Israel strikes Iran — Operation Rising Lion 2025-06 Chinese yuan breaks 7 per dollar; US names China manipulator 2019-08 North Korea sixth nuclear test 2017-09 North Korea 'fire and fury' nuclear scare 2017-08 OPEC abandons output defense, opting for market share vs US shale 2014-11 Egyptian revolution / Mubarak uprising 2011-01 Gold peaks at $850 1980-01 Iran hostage crisis / US freezes Iranian assets 1979-11 Cuban Missile Crisis 1962-10 Smoot-Hawley clears the US House 1929-05 Gold tops $4,000 and silver spikes past $50 in historic squeeze 2025-10 US-China extend tariff truce by another 90 days 2025-08 Trump's 50% copper tariff sends Comex copper to a record 2025-07 Platinum hits an 11-year high on Chinese jewelry demand and deficit 2025-06 US and China agree Geneva tariff truce, slashing rates 2025-05 Operation Sindoor: India strikes Pakistan after Pahalgam attack 2025-05 Palladium jumps after US pushes G7 sanctions on Russian metal 2024-10 October 2024 Iranian ballistic-missile attack on Israel 2024-10 Hezbollah pager and device explosions across Lebanon 2024-09 Gold tops $2,500 for the first time on Fed rate-cut bets 2024-08 Nikkei 225 record single-day rebound 2024-08 India slashes gold import duty from 15% to 6% in 2024 budget 2024-07 Trump 'Taiwan should pay for defense' chip selloff 2024-07 Ukrainian drone strikes hit Russian refineries, lifting crude and gasoline 2024-03 RTX takes $3B charge on Pratt & Whitney GTF engine flaw 2023-09 Niger coup d'etat 2023-07 Wagner Group mutiny against the Kremlin 2023-06 China fires ballistic missiles into Japan's EEZ during Taiwan drills 2022-08 Tin hits nominal record on LME above $48,000/t 2022-03 Burkina Faso coup d'etat 2022-01 Mali coup d'etat 2020-08 Gold closes above $2,000/oz for the first time 2020-08 Saudi-Russia oil price war 2020-03 India's Balakot airstrike inside Pakistan 2019-02 Pulwama attack ignites India-Pakistan crisis 2019-02 Bitcoin Cash hash war capitulation 2018-11 US List 3 tariffs on $200B of Chinese goods finalized 2018-09
AssetHistory saysAbnormal (20d · 5d)HitnConfidencevs cascade
INTC INTCSHORT-4.7% · 5d -1.9%65%36 0.29✓ matches cascade
CNY CNYSHORT-0.3% · 5d -0.1%64%35 0.27✓ matches cascade
AVGO AVGOLONG+2.7% · 5d -1.3% ↺ fades62%35 0.22⚠ differs
AMD AMDSHORT-0.4% · 5d -1.4%63%36 0.20✓ matches cascade
10y yield DGS10LONG+12bp · 5d +7bp61%38 0.20·
High-yield credit HYGSHORT-0.5% · 5d -0.2%62%35 0.19·
QCOM QCOMSHORT-2.6% · 5d -2.2%61%35 0.16✓ matches cascade
FCX FCXSHORT-2.2% · 5d -1.9%60%35 0.15⚠ differs
Volatility VIXLONG+4.4% · 5d -0.6% ↺ fades58%36 0.14·
NOC NOCSHORT-0.8% · 5d -0.7%57%36 0.13⚠ differs
XLK XLKLONG+0.3% · 5d -0.6% ↺ fades59%35 0.13⚠ differs
RTX RTXSHORT-0.3% · 5d -0.8%57%38 0.12⚠ differs
MRVL MRVLSHORT-1.0% · 5d -3.0%59%35 0.12✓ matches cascade
ASML ASMLSHORT-3.0% · 5d -2.4%57%35 0.11✓ matches cascade

Methodology. Probability and impact are anchored to history and scored against what actually happens — wins and losses, in public, at Reality Check. Crowd odds live from Polymarket & Kalshi. By Vikas Singh, Quantitative Strategist. Updated 2026-07-03.