The Middle East conflict is happening.

And investors are hurrying to safety.

However, with the USD and U.S. T-bills increasingly out of favour as a safe-haven asset, gold has now become the asset to hold.

Furthermore, the conflict has been a boon to some oil & gas and defense companies.

For this week, we will be talking about Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, Lockheed Martin, RTX, and Newmont.

Cheers,
InvestKaki Team 🤜🤛

Moving on, here are the news that shocked the world…

Oil Price Spike $BZG23 ( 0.0% ) : Oil markets are in a frenzy due to the Iran-Israel conflict. Both the Brent and WTI crude oil prices are up to $88 and $86 respectively [Read More]

Target $TGT ( ▲ 0.36% ): Target is investing more in its turnaround to stop the bleed. It missed revenue expectations, and is forecasting for revenue to rise by 2% for 2026 [Read More]

Victoria Secret $VSCO ( ▼ 11.35% ): Victoria Secret’s results exceeded expectations and issued better-than-expected guidance for 2026. Sales rose by 8%. [Read More]

Kroger $KR ( ▲ 3.55% ): Kroger’s results were mixed. Earnings exceeded expectations but revenue slightly missed. Revenue is up by 1.2%, while e-commerce revenue is at $16 billion [Read More]

Morgan Stanley $MS ( ▼ 1.4% ): Morgan Stanley is cutting 3% of its workforce or 2,500 employees after it overhired during the pandemic. [Read More]

Here are the news covering the Asia market…

Minimax: Minimax’s revenue increased by 159% to $79 million, as 70% of its sales are coming from non-China markets. It aims to be a global AI platform [Read More]

Toku: Toku reported a 9% increase in revenue, while net loss widens on higher listing expenses. It recently listed in the market in January 2026 [Read More]

DFI Retail: Underlying profits rose by 35% for 2025 due to better revenue mix and sale of loss-making units. It is projecting 2% to 3% in sales growth for 2026 [Read More]

Mapletree: Mapletree Investment has sold a 4.4 million sqft industrial portfolio in the East Coast of the United States for $575 million to EQT Real Estate [Read More]

Hongkong Land: Hongkong Land’s underlying profit declined by 8%, but it turned a net profit of SG$1.3 billion in 2025 from a loss of SG$1.4 million in 2024 [Read More]

Wispr Flow turns your voice into clean, professional text you can send the moment you stop talking. Not rough transcription you have to clean up. Actual polished text - ready for email, Slack, or any app.

Reid Hoffman sends 89% of his messages with zero edits using Flow. Millions of people worldwide have made it part of how they work, including teams at OpenAI, Vercel, and Clay.

Speak the way you think. Go on tangents. Change your mind mid-sentence. Flow strips the filler, fixes the grammar, and gives you text that reads like you spent five minutes writing it.

Works on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and now Android - free and unlimited on Android during launch.

Try Wispr Flow free →

With conflicts in the Middle East flaring up again, here are the stocks I am watching!

👉 Follow us on Instagram here!

The play this week is simple.

With the conflict in the Middle East, several sectors have benefited from it - oil & gas, defense and gold/silver companies.

Here are the 5 stocks that I am watching for in the conflict.

Exxon Mobil is an oil & gas company engaged in the upstream and downstream business in the United States, Canada and internationally.

Why we like this: After that snub by Trump on the Venezuela front, Exxon Mobil is now fast-emerging as the go-to oil & gas stock.

It has risen by 25% since the beginning of the year. And it’s not hard to see why.

Its earnings have consistently surprised on the upside, and it’s currently considered undervalued by SimplyWallSt’s discounted cash flow analysis.

ConocoPhilips explores for crude oil, bitumen, and natural gas,

Why we like this: Another oil & gas company. Financial prospects for the oil & gas industry is going up with the conflict and ConocoPhilips could stand to benefit. However, it’s really strange that this is now a catalyst for most O&G stocks.

ConocoPhilips derive only about 11% of its revenue from the Middle East, while a full 80% is from the United States.

Furthermore, it’s currently 57% undervalued according to DCF valuation.

Lockheed Martin is an aerospace and defense company, supplying technology systems and defense products to the United States, Europe, Asia, and Middle East & Africa.

Why we like this: Lockheed Martin is very established in the global defense industry, and could stand to benefit from higher orders from the United States with the Middle East conflict. It is up by 37% since the beginning of the year.

It is also currently trading at valuations that are lower than the industry average, making it an attractive entry point.

RTX corporation is an aerospace and defense company that provides systems and services for commercial, military and government customers.

Why we like this: It is in the same boat as Lockheed Martin. It has an established reputation in the aerospace and defense industry, and its revenue growth has increased to about 12% in the latest two quarters.

It is also trading at relatively low valuations compared to its peers.

Newmont is the world’s biggest gold mining and producer company.

Why we like this: The retreat to gold is real in times of conflict. Newmont is the world’s biggest company by market capitalisation for gold mining. As Trump ramps up his rhetoric and tantrums, the USD is increasingly becoming less attractive as a safe-haven asset.

Newmont’s valuation is attractive when compared to its other gold peers.

Hope the above is fruitful for you all..

Cheers,
James Yeo