Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile is a Chilean commodities producer with significant operations in lithium (primarily used in batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems), specialty and standard potassium fertilizers, iodine (primarily used in X-ray contrast media), and solar salts. The company extracts these materials through its high-quality salt brine deposits and caliche ore. SQM also sells lithium concentrate from a joint venture hard rock lithium project in Australia and expanding its lithium refining assets in China.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile is a Chilean commodities producer with significant operations in lithium (primarily used in batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems), specialty and standard potassium fertilizers, iodine (primarily used in X-ray contrast media), and solar salts. The company extracts these materials through its high-quality salt brine deposits and caliche ore. SQM also sells lithium concentrate from a joint venture hard rock lithium project in Australia and expanding its lithium refining assets in China.

As goes the old saying, all-time highs (ATHs) are bullish -- except for the last one. The S&P 500 (SPX) ripped to ATHs last Tuesday and gained 3.6% for the week. The S&P 100 (OEX +4%), the S&P Mid-Cap 400 (MDY +3.3%), and S&P Small-Cap 600 (SML +2.4%) all made ATHs after being stuck in the mud for the past month or two. The largest winner of the week was the iShares Micro-Cap ETF (IWC +6), with the Nasdaq and Nasdaq 100 popping a bit more than 5%.

Albemarle is one of the world's largest lithium producers. In the lithium industry, the majority of demand comes from batteries, where lithium is used as the energy storage material, particularly in electric vehicles. Albemarle is a fully integrated lithium producer. Its upstream resources include salt brine deposits in Chile and the US and two hard rock mines in Australia, both of which are joint ventures. The company operates lithium refining plants in Chile, the US, Australia, and China. Albemarle is a global leader in the production of bromine, used in flame retardants.