By Abby Schultz

More rich Americans are seeking residency and citizenship programs abroad than any other nationality, says Basil Mohr-Elzeki, head of private clients Americas at London migration specialist Henley & Partners. Demand from U.S. clients nearly doubled last year. But that doesn't mean they're fleeing. Instead, it has everything to do with "optionality" -- the ability to live somewhere else should the need arise.

Henley notes in a report that nearly half its U.S. clients are pursuing European programs -- led by Portugal and Italy -- while others are split between Latin America and the Caribbean, which offer quicker paths. Clients are creating a diversified portfolio of jurisdictions, says Mohr-Elzeki: "A primary residence in one country, a second citizenship in another, a business base in a third, with banking and succession structures spread across several more, each chosen for a distinct purpose so that no single government holds the whole of a family's life and capital."

"We always spoke about plan B, but actually plan B is not enough on its own anymore," says Dominic Volek, Henley's group head of private clients. "To truly hedge against the volatility and various geopolitical events playing themselves out across the world, you should actually have three or four jurisdictions at your disposal."

In Henley's study, Singapore is the most attractive destination, scoring 79.5 out of 100 because of its "strong rule of law, deep capital markets, political stability, and a sophisticated wealth management ecosystem." The U.S. trails with 62.3, mostly over taxation issues. He cautions, however, "that things can change very quickly as we've seen in the Middle East."

Write to Abby Schultz at abby.schultz@dowjones.com

Last Week

Markets

News that Iran and the U.S. had agreed to a 60-day cease-fire sent oil and stocks up, despite few details beyond Iran agreeing to open the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. lifting its blockade. But differences over Israel and Lebanon, and reports that sanctions would be lifted and payments made to Iran, stirred backlash. U.S. stocks slipped on Tuesday. Kevin Warsh's first Federal Reserve policy meeting as chairman saw no change in rates, but Warsh warned on inflation and stocks sold off, rebounding on Thursday. On the short Juneteenth week, the Dow industrials rose 0.7%, the S&P 500 0.9%, and the Nasdaq Composite 2.4%.

Companies

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer proposed a ban on children under 16 using social media. Swiss voters rejected a plan to cap the country's population. The Commerce Department imposed export controls on Anthropic's newest models; the company then suspended access to all users. SpaceX shares surged, with its market value briefly topping that of Amazon.com, finishing Thursday at $2.5 trillion. Apple is raising prices.

Deals

SpaceX agreed to buy Anysphere, which developed the artificial-intelligence coding agent Cursor, for $60 billion...Fox is buying Roku for $22 billion to build up its streaming business. (Fox and Barron's parent News Corp share common ownership.)...The Wall Street Journal reported the Justice Department staff considered challenging the Paramount Skydance deal for Warner Bros. Discovery before DOJ leadership closed the case.

Next Week

Tuesday, 6/23

FedEx will look to build on its blowout third quarter when it reports fiscal fourth-quarter results on Tuesday. The consensus among analysts polled by FactSet calls for adjusted earnings of $5.96 per share and revenue of $24.04 billion. The company spun off its freight division in June. FedEx Freight Holding will announce results on Thursday, and is expected to report adjusted earnings of $1.32 a share on revenue of $2.26 billion.

Wednesday, 6/24

Wall Street will get a look at the latest results from a huge AI winner on Wednesday: Micron Technology, which will report quarterly results after the market close. Micron has seen shares surge roughly 750% in the past 12 months amid a shortage of memory chips driven by AI. Wall Street forecasts that Micron will report adjusted earnings of $20.45 per share and revenue of $35.4 billion.

Thursday, 6/25

The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge is due out on Thursday. The core personal expenditures price index is expected to rise 0.4% from April. In the wake of Kevin Warsh's first meeting as chair of the Federal Reserve and the Iran war's impact on energy prices, plenty of attention will be paid to the report.

The Numbers

340 M

Number of barrels of oil left in the U.S. strategic reserve on Monday, with 172 million slated for release.

7,851%

Rise in AI agent traffic in the past year, with bots making 57.4% of Web requests, humans 42.6%.

27%

Percentage of homes of three bedrooms or more occupied by people 65 or older, up from 19% 20 years ago.

$765 M

What the Trump administration is paying Invenergy to cancel four wind projects in the Atlantic and Pacific.

Write to Robert Teitelman at robrt.teitelman@barrons.com

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June 19, 2026 04:19 ET (08:19 GMT)

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