Dear Friend,

In January of last year, police in eastern Congo stopped a car.

Under the seats they found twelve gold bars and $800,000 in cash.

The three Chinese nationals inside got seven years.

Fraud. Money laundering. Looting.

They were the first foreign mineral brokers ever convicted there.

That is one car.

A Swiss research group spent three years on the paperwork.

It compared what Africa mines against what the world admits importing.

The gap was 435 tonnes in a single year.

That is more than a tonne of gold a day, with no export record anywhere on Earth.

Ghana finally banned all foreign involvement in its gold trade.

Forty-eight hours later its task force raided a house.

They arrested ten Chinese nationals with a shotgun and stacks of cash.

They also found casino cards used for laundering.

Ghana has tried visa bans, equipment bans, military raids and deportations.

It even shut its small-scale mines entirely.

They keep coming back.

And every gram that reaches China stays there.

The rules are explicit.

Gold crosses that border only with a central bank license.

The state can refuse one whenever it likes.

In goes everything.

Out comes nothing.

Twenty consecutive months of official buying.

And an outside estimate that the real number is nearly five times what Beijing reports.

Now ask the question the financial press won't ask out loud.

Why?

Not why does China like gold.

Why is it taking gold by every means available, legal and illegal, declared and hidden?

No nation has attempted this pace in modern history.

A country does not do this to diversify.

It does this because it knows something is about to happen to the price of gold.

And it intends to be standing on the right side of it.

There is a specific answer.

There is a mechanism, and there is a date attached to it.

I laid the whole thing out on one page.

Along with what Washington did on May 21 in response.

Here is why China is really doing this >>

"The Buck Stops Here,"

Kelly Maguire
Behind the Markets

Rocket Lab’s Record Quarter Still Left Investors Waiting on Neutron

Authored by Ryan Hasson. Date Posted: 8/11/2026.

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) reported its Q2 2026 results after the close on Monday, Aug. 11. By almost every operational measure, it was the strongest quarter in the company's history: record revenue, a record backlog, more than $1 billion in new contracts and continued progress toward Neutron's debut. Yet the stock slipped in after-hours trading, changing hands nearly 8% lower. For a report this strong, the reaction reflects more on expectations than execution.

A Record Quarter Across the Board

Revenue came in at a record $234 million, up 62% year over year and 16.8% sequentially, topping the consensus estimate. It was the second consecutive quarter of record revenue, driven by strength across both business segments. The company reported a loss of 8 cents per share, compared with the estimate of a 6-cent loss. Product revenue nearly doubled to $181.3 million from $92.7 million a year earlier, reflecting the growing contribution of the Space Systems business, which now includes the Mynaric and Motiv acquisitions.

The backlog told an even more striking story. It surged 137% to a record $2.36 billion, split roughly 40% between Launch Services and 60% Space Systems. The company signed more than $1 billion in new contracts during the quarter and in the period immediately afterward, including over $437 million in new launch bookings across Electron, HASTE and Neutron. Rocket Lab now has more than 90 missions on its manifest, the highest total in company history. Net loss narrowed to $49 million year over year, though the company remains unprofitable as it continues to invest heavily in Neutron.

Guidance Points to Another Record, With a Margin Caveat

For Q3, Rocket Lab guided to revenue of $250 million to $265 million, which would mark another record and represent continued sequential growth. That is the good news. The more nuanced part concerns profitability. The company guided to non-GAAP gross margins of 35% to 37%, softer than the level it just delivered, and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $17 million to $23 million.

Management was direct about the reason: cash usage will remain elevated because Neutron development, infrastructure investment and acquisition integration are all drawing on resources simultaneously. In other words, the top line keeps setting records, but the path to profitability runs through a heavy investment phase first. That margin guidance, together with the commentary on Neutron, is the most likely explanation for the after-hours dip.

Neutron Remains the Main Event

As always with Rocket Lab, the single most important variable is Neutron, and management held to its timeline—sort of. Flight hardware is moving toward final assembly and integration at Launch Complex 3 in Virginia, and the company continues to target delivery of the rocket to the pad in the fourth quarter of 2026. CEO Peter Beck acknowledged that the window for an end-of-year launch is narrowing, an honest note investors will weigh carefully. Beck emphasized that the priority is not just the first flight but establishing a sustained launch cadence and scalability from the outset.

Importantly, Neutron already has customers waiting. The $397 million contract SB-AMTI award announced Aug. 4 names Neutron as its launch vehicle, and Beck noted that demand across the launch business is "extreme," citing more than $437 million in bookings for Electron, HASTE and Neutron. On pricing, CFO Adam Spice said the company is holding firm on Neutron's $50 million to $55 million average selling price and declining to discount early launches—a sign of confidence in demand.

A New Launch System and Continued Expansion

The quarter also brought a new product announcement. Rocket Lab introduced GHOST, a globally deployable launch system designed to support suborbital and orbital launches from anywhere in the world. Its first location will be the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska. The move underscores the company's push to expand its launch footprint and cadence, complementing its ongoing Electron business and the pending $8 billion Iridium acquisition, which would further transform it into a vertically integrated space company with a recurring-revenue satellite network.

Where Things Stand for Rocket Lab

The setup after this report is a familiar one for Rocket Lab. The business is executing at the highest level in its history, with record revenue, a record backlog approaching $2.4 billion and Neutron inching toward the pad.

Yet the stock still trades at a premium valuation and remains unprofitable, which is why softer margin guidance was enough to prompt a dip despite a clear revenue beat.

The consensus rating sits at Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $111.82, implying meaningful upside from current levels.

For long-term investors, the thesis is intact and arguably strengthening: demand is extreme, the backlog is compounding and Neutron is attracting marquee customers before it has even flown.

The question is the same one it has been all year: Can execution on Neutron and margins eventually catch up with the extraordinary growth in bookings?