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October has been a month of contradictions…

First, the September inflation data was horrific, igniting concerns that the Federal Reserve will continue raising interest rates. But Treasury yields declined sharply, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling from 5.3% on October 5 to just below 5% today.

Now, Treasury yields could stop falling this week. The October Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting takes place today and tomorrow, with the Fed’s next interest rate decision set for Wednesday afternoon. The consensus is that the Fed will hold rates steady.

The FOMC statement should give us a better idea of where interest rates are headed. (Look for a Market 360 later this week on this.)

Second, AI- and data center-related stocks have started to report phenomenal sales and earnings growth. In fact, the Information Technology sector is expected to post 65.6% earnings growth, the second highest of any sector this quarter. But AI and data center stocks continue to be punished by concerns about how the massive AI buildout will be financed.

In my view, those fears have been overblown. The baby has been thrown out with the bathwater.

However, the third-quarter earnings season has made it clear that AI- and data center-related stocks are delivering some of the strongest sales and earnings growth. And my experience tells me that fundamentally superior stocks will bounce back as those results continue to roll in.

But technology isn’t the only sector where the fundamentals are impressive. In fact, there’s another area of the market that’s been demonstrating tremendous relative strength: energy.

More crude oil is finally being shipped from the Persian Gulf, including through the Strait of Hormuz. The Wall Street Journal reported that exports have topped 24 million barrels per day, above prewar levels.

But crude oil prices remain high, with Brent crude oil at about $115 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate crude oil at about $101 per barrel, due primarily to attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The elevated energy prices have been particularly painful for Americans at the pump. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the average price of gasoline in the U.S. is $4.28 per gallon. That’s more than 40% higher than in October 2025. Diesel prices have surged more than 70% year-over-year to $6.28 per gallon.

But while those prices are squeezing consumers, they’ve also helped lift the outlook for energy companies. According to FactSet, the energy sector is expected to post average earnings growth of 127.6% in the third quarter, up from estimates of 114.8% just a few weeks ago.

And we’ve already seen that strength reflected in energy stocks.

In today’s Market 360, I’ll show you what investors are searching for in my Stock Grader AI tool, how to hunt for fundamentally superior energy stocks and why I believe America’s energy expansion could create an even bigger opportunity in the years ahead.

What Investors Are Searching for Now

To help offset the pinch at the pump, I’ve added several energy stocks to my premium Buy Lists this year. And I’m pleased to report that those positions have exhibited tremendous relative strength recently.

Judging by the latest activity in my Stock Grader AI tool (subscription required), plenty of other investors are also looking for fundamentally superior opportunities.

As longtime readers know, my proprietary Stock Grader system evaluates more than 6,000 stocks and assigns each a letter grade from A (Very Strong) to F (Very Weak). Stock Grader AI builds on that research by letting users search for highly rated stocks with simple questions in plain English.

And investors have been putting it to work.

During the week of October 19, subscribers submitted a total of 9,140 prompts to Stock Grader AI. The most popular requests included A-rated stocks across all sectors, A-rated small-cap companies and A-rated stocks involved in the AI infrastructure buildout.

Specifically, there were 362 searches for A-rated stocks, 333 searches for A-rated small caps and 295 for A-rated AI infrastructure and AI-related companies.

Digging a little deeper, there was something that caught my eye.

There was also interest in energy stocks. In fact, there were 118 searches that explicitly mentioned “energy” in one form or another. Many users wanted to look for A-rated companies in the Energy Minerals sector.

With the energy sector expected to report such impressive earnings growth, I think that’s a smart place to look.

Of course, that doesn’t mean every energy stock is worth buying. That’s where Stock Grader can help.

Let’s say you want to find companies that could benefit from higher energy prices. You could start by searching for:

“A-rated stocks in the Energy sector.”

Here’s what you’d find…

You could also narrow your search to a particular part of the energy industry. For example, I asked Stock Grader AI to find “A-rated energy transport stocks.”

Here’s what it returned:

As you can see, Stock Grader AI identified 43 energy transport stocks with A ratings.

Now, that’s a great starting point. But 43 stocks is still a lot to sort through. So, which ones would I actually recommend buying?

A strong Stock Grader rating is an important first step. But I also want to know how a company makes its money, what could drive its growth and whether it’s positioned to benefit from the trends I’m following.

That’s where my latest research comes in…

America’s Next Big Energy Opportunity

America is undergoing an energy transformation that I believe could be worth $31.5 trillion over the next 15 years.

As American oil and natural gas production is set to expand at an unprecedented rate. That means more “drill, baby, drill,” of course – but it also means more energy will need to move through pipelines, processing facilities and export terminals to reach customers around the world.

When you put it all together, I believe this could create some extraordinary opportunities for investors – including several that most folks haven’t even considered yet.

That’s why I’ve spent the past few months identifying the companies I believe are best positioned to profit from this historic shift.

I’m revealing the details in my latest presentation, America’s $31.5 Trillion IPO.

To discover the companies I’ve identified and how you can position yourself for what could be America’s next great energy boom, click here to watch my presentation now.

Sincerely,

Louis Navellier

Editor, Market 360