What a Weaker Dollar — and the AI Boom — Mean for Your Investments

Confidence doesn’t always arrive with a bold entrance. Sometimes, it builds quietly, step by step, as we show up for ourselves day after day. It grows when we choose to try,Markets are always moving, and lately a lot of talk has centered around the U.S. dollar. It’s been trading in the middle of its long-term range, but we’re seeing signs that it may gradually move lower. While that might sound worrying, it’s really just another shift in the economic weather — and one that can create opportunity.

This isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with a weaker dollar. We also wrote about similar conditions in a 2003 edition of The Riggs Report, where we noted that a soft dollar tends to support larger global companies, commodities, and foreign markets. The same basic forces are in play today, even though the AI story adds a powerful new twist.

To understand what might come next, it helps to look back at another weak‑dollar period. From 2002 to 2007, the dollar steadily declined. During that time, commodities and international markets were standout performers. Industrial metals and gold did very well, and sectors like energy and materials saw strong growth. Emerging‑market stocks also benefited as global demand expanded.

Today, we’re seeing similar setups — but with an important new driver: the AI buildout. Artificial intelligence isn’t just changing how we work and communicate; it’s transforming the global economy behind the scenes. Building and powering AI infrastructure requires huge amounts of energy, industrial metals, and specialized materials — the same areas that historically benefit when the dollar weakens. That means the trends supporting these sectors now come from two directions at once: currency dynamics and technological transformation.

A helpful way to picture this is as a layered view of the AI economy. At the surface are applications like AI tools, robotics, defense tech, healthtech, and autonomous vehicles. Underneath sit the “enabling technologies” such as semiconductors, data centers, and cloud infrastructure. Below that are the power systems and physical infrastructure — power grids, nuclear and renewable energy, and broader electrification. At the very base are the raw materials like copper, lithium, uranium, silver, and rare earths that make all of this possible. Independent research, including work from firms like Global X, suggests we’re still in that heavy build‑out phase, which is exactly where we’ve been adding exposure since 2024.

At Riggs Asset Management, we began positioning our portfolios in these areas in 2024, when we saw both the dollar rolling over from its 2022 high and the AI story moving from concept into real, large‑scale investment. Since then, we’ve gradually expanded exposure to metals and mining, energy, materials, and international markets that stand to benefit from both global investment cycles and the continued spread of AI‑powered innovation.

As always, we view these shifts not as risks to avoid, but as opportunities to capture. A softer dollar can act as a tailwind for global assets, while AI continues to reshape industries and drive real demand for the raw materials and infrastructure behind it. In this environment, we’re focused on putting money where it is likely to be treated best.

If you’d like to talk more about how these trends fit into your portfolio, reach out to your Riggs team member. We’re here to help you stay positioned for what’s next — and to make sure your investments are working in the areas with the strongest long‑term potential.

To dive deeper, we invite you to watch Bob Graham’s full video on this topic, where he walks through the dollar, AI, and how we’re positioning portfolios in more detail.even when we’re unsure of the outcome. Every time you take action despite self-doubt, you reinforce the belief that you’re capable. Confidence isn’t about having all the answers — it’s about trusting that you can figure it out along the way.

The key to making things happen isn’t waiting for the perfect moment; it’s starting with what you have, where you are. Big goals can feel overwhelming when viewed all at once, but momentum builds through small, consistent action. Whether you’re working toward a personal milestone or a professional dream, progress comes from showing up — not perfectly, but persistently. Action creates clarity, and over time, those steps forward add up to something real.

You don’t need to be fearless to reach your goals, you just need to be willing. Willing to try, willing to learn, and willing to believe that you’re capable of more than you know. The road may not always be smooth, but growth rarely is. What matters most is that you keep going, keep learning, and keep believing in the version of yourself you’re becoming.