The U.S.-China trade tensions once again started hitting headlines since last Friday. On Friday, Trump announced plans to impose an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods starting Nov. 1, in response to Beijing’s new export controls on rare earth minerals. This caused a Wall Street crash on Friday.
At the start of this week, however, markets briefly rallied after Trump hinted at a possible easing of tensions. But the optimism eroded quickly after China sanctioned U.S. units of a South Korean shipping company. Meanwhile, Trump warned of further trade restrictions in response to Beijing’s halt on U.S. soybean purchases, as quoted on Yahoo Finance.
No wonder, markets remained edgy. A measure of market volatility, Barclays iPath Series B S P 500 VIX Short Term Futures ETN Series B VXX, has gained 5.9% over the past month and surged 10.9% over the past week. SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY has lost 1.24% over the past week.
While many investors are clueless about where to park money or growing suspicious about the broader market rally, we would like to note that some specific corners of the market remain steady lately despite rising trade tensions. These areas stayed steady on their own inherent fundamentals. Below we highlight a few of them.
Marijuana – AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF MSOS – Up 5.8% on Oct. 15, 2025, down 0.4% past week
Marijuana ETFs have rebounded sharply lately. The rally stemmed from renewed hopes on the legalization momentum, including likely U.S. federal rescheduling of cannabis and President Trump’s pro-CBD stance (read: From Loss to Lift-Off: Marijuana ETFs Rebound on Legalization Prospects).
Silver Miners – Amplify Junior Silver Miners ETF SILJ – Up 5.3% on Oct. 15, 2025, Up 2.3% past week
Silver has been a hot trade this year, with the silver bullion ETF iShares Silver Trust SLV gaining 79.5%. Silver prices have gained due to their increased safe-haven appeal as well as higher industrial demand. As mining stocks often act as leveraged plays of the underlying metal, silver mining ETFs have gained massively. The renewed trade tensions have added to the safe-haven appeal for the metal.
Gold Miners – Sprott Junior Gold Miners ETF SGDJ – Up 4.9% on Oct. 15, 2025, Up 4.9% past week
Gold prices have gained over 57% this year. The ongoing Fed rate cut momentum, surging central bank demand, especially from emerging economies, and the yellow metal’s safe-haven appeal amid trade tensions and increasing geopolitical risks have brightened the metal’s glow. The recent talks of the town – the AI bubble fear and the possible pullbacks in the markets – have also been driving some skeptical investors to gold bullion and gold miners.