SEC Is Probing Egan-Jones Over Its Private Credit Rating Practices For once the SEC, perhaps having finally learned its lesson from the Global Financial Crisis, or simply because it read one too many critical pieces in the press in recent weeks, is not waiting until the credit bubble bursts to warn the raters not to engage in rating shopping.  Bloomberg, which was the first to highlight Egan-Jones’ role in rating thousands of […]

Stop Missing The Bigger Picture Re: Tariffs By Michael Every of Rabobank The US Supreme Court was skeptical about Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in imposing reciprocal and fentanyl tariffs. Two ‘Trump’ judges argued the statute delegates Congress’ constitutional powers to “regulate commerce” to the president but may not cover a tariff as a tax power. That said, there are a panoply of […]

Trump Strikes Deal With Lilly And Novo To Offer “Drastic Discounts” On Weight-Loss Drugs Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S struck a deal with the Trump administration to offer their blockbuster obesity drugs at lower prices in exchange for tariff relief and expanded Medicare access. The announcement was made in the Oval Office early this afternoon, where President Trump told reporters, “I call it the fat drug … we’re […]

David Sacks Responds To OpenAI: “There Will Be No Federal Bailout For AI… If One Fails, Others Will Take Its Place” Update: OpenAI’s tongue-in-cheek suggestion for a government backstop and/or bailout (eventually) was promptly smacked down when Trump’s AI advisor David Sacks – who is hardly a fan of Sam Altman – said that “there will be no federal bailout for AI. The U.S. has at least 5 major frontier model companies. If one […]

Were We Lied To About World War II? The clip that started it all…. For the people saying Darryl Cooper didn’t say “Churchill was the chief villain” in WW2 on Tucker Carlson’s podcast, watch this. If what he said isn’t morally and intellectually wrong, then you don’t have to lie for him. pic.twitter.com/5JgjWTZhhr — Samuel Sey (@SlowToWrite) September 4, 2024 For those who remember, the above remarks by historian […]

CBP Reports Historic Low In October Border Encounters Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has reported its lowest number of encounters with illegal immigrants on record for October, while achieving six months of zero releases under current enforcement policies. As the Trump administration’s border enforcement has resulted in historic lows in illegal immigrant encounters, […]

Chief Justice Roberts Urged To Probe Lower Court Judges’ Political Outbursts Via American Greatness, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) have sent a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts, calling for investigation of partisan statements by activist judges. Dozens of lower court judges are accused of making anonymous statements to the New York Times for an […]

Elon Musk’s Trillion-Dollar Pay-Package Faces Shareholder Vote Today; Here’s What To Know Elon Musk’s staggering $1 trillion pay package will dominate Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting today, setting up one of the most high-stakes corporate votes in years over the future of the world’s most visible CEO. The board has made the choice explicit. Tesla Chair Robyn Denholm warned that the decision is about whether shareholders […]

Nancy Pelosi Finally Retiring From Congress At 85 After days of speculation, former House Speaker and legendary insider trader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has formally announced that she out. In a Thursday morning video, Pelosi announced that she won’t seek reelection after completing her current term. “There has been no greater honor for me than to stand on the House floor and say, ‘I speak for the people of San Francisco.’ I […]

CarMax Shares Crater As Board Ousts CEO Amid Deepening Used-Car Market Cracks CarMax shares plunged in the early cash session after the struggling used-car retailer delivered weak preliminary third-quarter results that missed Wall Street expectations, and compounded the blow by announcing the abrupt termination of its chief executive officer. “We make car buying and selling simple, transparent, and personalized,” Chair of the Board […]

France’s Plans To Deploy Troops To Ukraine Risk Sparking A Major Crisis Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) reported that France is plotting to deploy up to 2,000 soldiers, the core of which will be Latino assault troops from the Foreign Legion who are presently undergoing intensive training in Poland, to Central Ukraine in the near future. This follows Chief of Staff of the […]

Yields Plunge After Private Tracker Shows US Lost 9K Jobs In October, Driven By Government Collapse One month ago, when the market was freaking out by the lack of official government data (it has since realized again, that whether the government is open or closed, or what the jobs number is – certainly not until it is revised 3 or 4 times, does not matter), everyone scrambled to find private sources of economic data. That’s when the […]

“There’s A Plan”: Group Of Centrist Democrats Want Colleagues To End Shutdown A group of eight centrist Democrats who want to end the government shutdown – now the longest in US history – have been approaching their colleagues about a deal to reopen the federal government this week or next week, however progressives within the party are pushing back hard, according to The Hill, citing people familiar with the discussions. To […]

Mamdani Announces All-Female Transition Team, Including Lina Khan Authyored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced on Wednesday that his transition team would be all-female. “Last night we made history, and today we begin the work of making a new administration,” Mamdani said in a video posted to X. Following Mamdani’s substantial victory in the city’s mayoral election on […]

October Layoffs Surge Most Since 2003 Amid Cost-Cutting, AI Adoption, Challenger Data Shows  The U.S. labor market weakened considerably in October, with companies slashing 153,000 jobs, nearly triple last year’s total and the highest for that month since 2003, according to a new report from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Technology and warehousing jobs led the layoffs, mostly because companies are slashing […]

If Solar And Wind Are Now Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels, Why Don’t We Have More? Authored by Mike Shedlock via Mish Talk, The answer is they aren’t cheaper… Energy Talking Points Substack writer Alex Epstein has a great post on The “Levelized Cost of Energy” Scam. If you ever hear anyone favorably compare solar and wind to coal, gas, or nuclear by citing a low LCOE—“Levelized Cost of Energy”—you are being […]

Stocks Rebound To Session Highs After Soaring Corporate Layoffs Raise Rate Cut Odds US equity futures are higher, rebounding from session lows for the second day in a row, amid headlines that layoffs are surging due to AI which in turn is raising odds of a Dec rate cut, with JPM saying that “the market is weighing a weaker labor market and potential spending vs. evidence on the efficacy (and ROI) of AI plus productivity gains.” […]

Judge Orders Prosecutors To Turn Over Evidence Against James Comey Authored by Stacy Robinson via The Epoch Times, A federal judge on Nov. 5 ordered prosecutors from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to hand over evidence in its case against former FBI Director James Comey. Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick gave the DOJ until the end of Thursday to provide Comey’s attorneys with grand jury materials, along with other evidence […]

Pirates Attack Tanker Off Somalia Coast  Maritime journal Lloyd’s List reported early Thursday that the Malta-flagged tanker Hellas Aphrodite was boarded by suspected pirates off the Somali coast. This maritime incident comes just days after another attempted hijacking of a commercial vessel in the region.  Pirates have boarded Malta-flagged Hellas Aphrodite, a product tanker, off the Somali coast just days after a near miss in […]

Deeply-Divided Bank Of England Leaves Rates Unchanged, Warns Of “AI Bubble” The Bank of England kept its key interest rate at 4.0% this morning, opting against a cut (as the market expected) ahead of the UK government’s annual budget this month (which is expected to feature tax hikes). “We still think rates are on a gradual path downwards, but we need to be sure that inflation is on track to return to our two-percent target before […]

Silicon Valley’s Growing Anti-Woke, Pro-Abundance Rebellion Authored by Edward Ring via American Greatness, To paraphrase and utterly subvert one of Karl Marx’s best-known quotes, a “spectre” is haunting Silicon Valley—the spectre of authentic abundance. All the powers of woke California have entered into an unholy alliance to exorcise this spectre: public sector unions, the environmentalist lobby, the crony capitalists, […]

Snap Shares Soar On $400 Million Perplexity Deal To Embed AI-Powered Search The AI application wave is being driven by the rapid integration of these intelligent systems into products people already use, from messaging and search to productivity, entertainment, commerce, and even transportation. The latest example: Snap’s $400 million partnership with Perplexity to integrate its AI-powered answer engine directly into Snapchat, […]

Germany Submits To Islam: Christmas Market In Overath Cancelled Submitted by Thomas Kolbe In the German town of Overath (North Rhine-Westphalia), this year’s Christmas market has been cancelled. The cost of protecting visitors from potential terrorist attacks exceeds the organizer’s budget. The city refuses to cover the expenses. A capitulation to Islamism. It wasn’t long ago that Christmas markets were among the social […]

Diageo Lowers Outlook On Dismal Drinking Demand As Shares Hit Decade Low  British spirits giant Diageo Plc, one of the world’s largest drink makers, tumbled to a 10-year low on Thursday after lowered guidance overshadowed better-than-expected first-quarter sales. Wall Street analysts noted mounting frustration over the lack of detail regarding the company’s search for a new chief executive. The maker of Don Julio, Johnnie Walker, […]

What’s The Real Reason Why The Economist Wants Europe To Spend $400 Billion More On Ukraine? Authored by Andrew Korybko via Substack, Federalizing the EU, not the political fantasy of defeating Russia, is the real goal, which requires another four years of proxy warfare and at least another $400 billion to complete. The Economist argued that the EU and the UK should meet Ukraine’s estimated $390 billion financing needs over […]