Despite a turbulent start to 2025, some stocks are defying the odds. Markets have been rattled by a cocktail of uncertainty, from persistent inflation and ongoing tariff tensions to renewed fears of a potential recession.

Wall Street stocks advanced on Wednesday on revived hopes for progress in the U.S.-China trade dispute and as President Donald Trump soothed fears the Federal Reserve could lose its autonomy with reassurances that he has "no intention of firing" Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Dan Niles, Niles Investment Management founder, in a latest program on CNBC reiterated his concerns about a slowdown in AI spending and said that major technology companies were already facing the