As traders prepare for a slowing economy, they're dumping cyclicals and reaching for old stalwarts. Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO Josh Brown said that he bought gold mining stock Newmont to play the surge in gold prices as investors turned to bullion in the wake of the recent banking crisis. Brown called Newmont the "highest quality name" trading on the New York Stock Exchange. "You just get these moments where people lose confidence in fiat, in the banking system, et cetera, and for whatever reason, religion or otherwise, they reach for gold," Brown said Tuesday on CNBC's " Halftime Report ." "I think the demise of Credit Suisse is like an earthquake. And I think a lot of old money in Europe looked at that and said, 'What are we doing? Why don't we have more gold?'" NEM YTD mountain Newmont shares YTD Gold futures popped over the $2,000 threshold Tuesday. Gold stocks leapt higher, too, with the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX) jumping more than 3%. "One of the things that I really look for is when the technicals align with the fundamentals. And I think with the giant gold miners, that's exactly the situation that we're in," Brown said. Meanwhile, Hightower's Stephanie Link said she sold Deere , saying that it's "prudent to take gains" following weakness in recent manufacturing economic data. The investor said she held the industrial stock for about a year and a half. "I still like ag, by the way, and I like this company, and I love precision ag farming, and what that's going to do to their margins," Link said. "But it's very hard ... to stay aggressive on this name and not take gains when the macro data is telling me otherwise." However, Cerity Partners' Jim Lebenthal, who owns the stock, said Deere will continue to benefit from the ongoing war in Ukraine. DE YTD mountain Deere share YTD "There needs to be more planting regardless of what goes on in the economy, recession or not," Lebenthal said. "Deere, attractively priced low teens as a forward multiple, precision farming with their equipment, really should continue to benefit from what's going on, unfortunately, in Ukraine." Meanwhile, Brown said while Deere remains "among the highest quality companies in the space," the industrial stock is "still a cyclical" that will face challenges amid tighter lending standards. "These are the types of stocks you're going to need to defend your reason for owning it like every morning you wake up," Brown said.
