By MICHELLE CHAPMAN, Associated Press Business Writer

The U.S. is taking a minority stake in an Oklahoma rare earth miner, the latest government investment in the sector as it seeks to minimize its reliance on imports of a material used prevalently in smartphones, robotics, electric vehicles and many other high tech products.

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China processes more than 90% of the world’s critical minerals and has used its dominance in the market to gain leverage in the trade war with Washington.

USA Rare Earth said Monday that the U.S. Commerce Department is investing $1.6 billion in the company to advance work on a mine in Texas and to build a magnet manufacturing facility in Oklahoma.

Shares of USA Rare Earth jumped more than 13% before U.S. markets opened.

The agreement with the Commerce Department’s CHIPS program includes $277 million in proposed federal funding and a $1.3 billion senior secured loan. The Commerce Department will get 16.1 million shares of common stock in return, as well as rights to buy 17.6 million more.

“USA Rare Earth’s heavy critical minerals project is essential to restoring U.S. critical mineral independence,” Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said in a statement. “This investment ensures our supply chains are resilient and no longer reliant on foreign nations.”

The Trump administration is intensifying efforts to build up the critical mineral industry in the United States to work to break the chokehold that China has on the global supply chain.

Industry insiders, analysts and lawmakers have warned for years that America’s dependence on China for critical minerals — a list of 50 minerals that includes 17 sought-after rare-earth elements — is a national security vulnerability.

Attempts by President Donald Trump to acquire Greenland is part of that push.

USA Rare Earth, based in Stillwater, Oklahoma, is the third U.S. operator in which the Trump administration has invested in recent months.

The Pentagon invested $400 million in rare-earth producer MP Materials. It gave the U.S. company a $150 million loan in August.

The Trump administration and private investors in November announced a partnership with rare earth startups Vulcan Elements and ReElement Technologies. The $1.4 billion deal is intended to scale up U.S. access to materials and technology that are crucial for producing an array of high-tech goods and military equipment.

The Trump administration’s tax and spending cut bill includes $2 billion for the Pentagon to boost the U.S. stockpile of critical minerals and $5 billion more through 2029 to invest in those supply chains.

Between 2020 and 2024, the Pentagon said it had awarded more than $439 million to establish supply chains for domestic rare earths.

Earlier this month a bipartisan group of lawmakers proposed creating a new agency with $2.5 billion to spur production of rare earths and the other critical minerals.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks opened with modest gains Monday, as earnings season kicks into a higher gear and investors eye the next policy meeting of the Federal Reserve.

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The S&P 500 rose 0.4%. The index is coming off its second weekly loss in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 184 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:45 a.m. ET. The Nasdaq added 0.3%.

The major airlines were slightly lower in early trading after thousands of flights were canceled due to a massive winter storm that affected travel from the Rockies all the way to the East Coast. Delta and United each fell 1.2%.

USA Rare Earth, an Oklahoma-based miner of critical minerals, became the latest company to get a boost from an investment by the U.S. government. Shares rose 25%.

Gold gained another 2%, and topped $5,000 an ounce for the first time, while silver jumped 8.6% to around $110 per ounce. The value of precious metals has surged in recent months as investors sought relatively safe places to invest amid rising geopolitical uncertainty.

Natural gas futures climbed another 2.2% as cold weather set in across the country following the winter storm that dumped more than a foot of snow in places and left many without power.

Investors will also be paying close attention to the latest developments at the U.S. Federal Reserve, where officials meet this week to decide where to take interest rates. Most expect central bank officials to stand pat after they cut rates at the final three meetings of 2025.

Markets this week will be focused on corporate earnings, some of which might show the negative effects from recent U.S. tariff policies.

This week will feature the latest financial results from United Airlines, Boeing, General Motors, Meta, Microsoft and Apple.

Markets in Europe showed small gains. In Asia, Japan’s benchmark took a tumble after the yen rebounded against the U.S. dollar on rumors of possible government intervention. The Nikkei 225 index dropped 1.8%.

The Japanese yen has been weakening against the U.S. dollar, and many other major currencies, since 2021. So Japanese consumers and companies pay more now for imported food, fuel and other items needed to keep the world’s fourth largest economy running.

The dollar slipped to 153.83 Japanese yen from 155.01 yen. It had been trading around 158 yen last week.

PARIS (AP) — A senior French government official said Monday the memory of the French soldiers who died in Afghanistan should not be tarnished following U.S. President Donald Trump’s false assertion that troops from non-U.S. NATO countries avoided the front line during that war.

Alice Rufo, a deputy French defense minister, and Gen. Loic Mizon, the military governor of Paris, inspect the names of French troops killed in NATO operations in Afghanistan, where they fought with U.S. and other allied forces, during a visit Monday, Jan. 26, 2026, to a memorial in Paris for French troops killed in operations overseas. (AP Photo/John Leicester)

Alice Rufo, the minister delegate at the Defense Ministry, laid a wreath at a monument in downtown Paris dedicated to those who died for France in overseas operations. Speaking to reporters, Rufo said the ceremony had not been planned until the weekend, adding that it was crucial to show that “we do not accept that their memory be insulted.”

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In October 2001, nearly a month after the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. led an international coalition in Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaida, which had used the country as its base, and the group’s Taliban hosts.

Alongside the U.S. were troops from dozens of countries, including from NATO, whose mutual-defense mandate had been triggered for the first time after the attacks on New York and Washington. In an interview with Fox Business Network in Davos, Switzerland, Trump on Thursday claimed that non-U.S. NATO troops stayed “a little off the frontlines” in Afghanistan.

Ninety French soldiers died in the conflict.

“At such a moment, it is symbolically important to be there for their families, for their memory, and to remind everyone of the sacrifice they made on the front line,” Rufo said.

After his comments caused an outcry, Trump appeared to backpedal and heaped praise on the British soldiers who fought in Afghanistan. He had no words for other troops, though.

“I have seen the statements, in particular from veterans’ associations, their outrage, their anger, and their sadness,” Rufo said, adding that trans-Atlantic solidarity should prevail over polemics.

“You know, there is a brotherhood of arms between Americans, Britons, and French soldiers when we go into combat.”

At one point in Golden State’s win over the Timberwolves on Sunday at Target Center, Warriors coach Steve Kerr leaned toward a Wolves player and said, “I’m sorry.”

Not for the Warriors play or the win, but for the circumstances. Sunday’s game was played roughly 30 hours after Alex Pretti was shot numerous times and killed on the street by federal immigration officers, just two miles from Target Center. Saturday’s game was postponed 24 hours, but the lingering effects were palpable in the arena.

“I thought that was a ghost of a performance by us,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said following the 111-85 point defeat.

“I couldn’t have said it any better,” guard Donte DiVincenzo said.

It was another loss for Minnesota — the team’s fifth straight heading into Monday’s rematch with the Warriors. But this one was different than the previous four, all of which were competitive down to the final buzzer. Sunday’s performance was, as Wolves forward Julius Randle originally noted, “lifeless” before quickly catching himself.

“Terrible choice of words,” he noted.

Everyone knew what he meant.

“No energy to what we’re doing,” he said. “No purpose. No passion.”

From players or fans. The arena was subdued throughout, even when Minnesota closed the first half strong to pull within a point. Finch is usually stalking the sidelines, getting into the ears of officials nearly every time down the floor. He remained seated for much of the affair. The same was true for Kerr.

Nothing about the setting felt appropriate.

“I thought the vibe in the stands was one of the most bizarre, sad games that I’ve ever been a part of,” Kerr said. “You can feel the somber atmosphere. Their team, we could tell they were struggling with everything that’s been going on and what the city has been going through. It was very sad. It was a very sad night.

“Obviously, we got the win and we’re happy about that, but very difficult to see so many people struggling and sad.”

Players privately noted they’d spent the day and a half ahead of the game doing the same thing as most people in the city — scrolling their phones, watching numerous different angles of a man being shot to death all while trying to gain information about what happened and answers of what’s to come. All while being unsure of how to respond.

Randle described himself as “not political at all,” but that won’t keep anyone’s stomach from turning at such a sight, particularly when it takes place in your community.

“There’s a human aspect to it. For me. I have kids. I have family. For me, the job as a man is to be a protector of the house,” Randle said. “When you see things like that, obviously it’s tough. It’s hard to stomach those things. I’m not political at all. I don’t get into any of that stuff, but it’s tough, regardless of whatever is going on. Somebody loses their life; you never want to see that.

“From the minute I’ve been here, Minneapolis has been great to me. The fans, the community have been really behind me. Everyone. Neighbors that I live by, community I live in, the school my son goes to, just everything. Been nothing but a joy living here. So, things like this happening in the community, it’s tough. I don’t like seeing it.”

Kerr noted fans likely came to Sunday’s game in an attempt to briefly “forget about stuff, I guess.” Wolves players desperately wanted to be that distraction, that source of rallying and joy in the instant wake of tragedy.

“I think we give a lot of purpose to the city, a lot of excitement, a lot of joy, entertainment,” Randle said. “We play a huge role, in how the city is viewed, how we go out there and play. I think tonight was not a great representation of that.”

But it was apparent moments into the game that players simply weren’t ready themselves to provide a release for others.

“Certainly,” Finch said, “the mood was off from the beginning.”

The Wolves will try again Monday to move in a positive direction for themselves, and their fans. It’s the only path forward.

“Your heart and your thoughts are with the family going through that tragedy,” DiVincenzo said. “But that’s not an excuse (for our performance). I think, if anything, sometimes that brings a community together more, and we need to stay together as a community, as a team, and just push through … these dark days. Because there’s a lot bigger things than basketball, but what we can control right now is our basketball and our energy.”

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